Jeff Wigand wrote:
Metric Miler wrote:This is why doping being made a criminal offence is a good thing. WADA would have a hard time performing raids by itself.
More countries need to recognise doping in professional athletics is fraud.
I'm very pleased that potentially guilty parties have been arrested for alleged doping. I hope the police and the IAAF can bring out the truth.
However, I'm also sad for the sport. I don't think it can get much worse for athletics.
I agree with all the above except for your last statement. There are unscrupulous people who will try to cheat and it is good that they're being caught and taken off the playing field. This is a good day for track and field. There will be fewer medals in Rio that have to be reallocated years afterwards.
I agree it's great for athletics long term and even short term, catching cheats should be a priority. It is also great that this came out before Rio.
But what is sad, is that it is becoming harder and harder for athletics to stand up as a reputable sport. Not because dopers have been caught but because it becomes more and more apparent that drug cheating is a cancer whose roots spread wide and deep in athletics. It is harder and harder to believe what we are seeing.
If we caught every single doper in the sport tomorrow, the stigma around the sport would survive a generation or two. Athletics is dying and it is because of this doping problem it cannot shake. Catching dopers doesn't make the sport seem cleaner, it makes us feel "oh god, there's more of them".
I want to see lifetime bans, I'm tired of this sport allowing itself to be dragged through the mud by dopers.
Make doping illegal in every country, put in place lifetime doping bans for athletes and coaches, scrap all the records and only allow athletes who have an OOC testing history and blood passport in place to compete in the IOC and IAAF events.
Start again. This sport cannot be fixed.