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Posted by simon on 2/20/2008 on simon's blog Former Olympic champion and world record-holder Sebastian Coe has told the BBC that he fears for the future of athletics in the wake of recent drug scandals involving Marion Jones and British sprinter Dwain Chambers. He is concerned about the effect that the reinstatement of drug cheats could have on the sport. "We could end up with a situation like WWF wrestling where everyone knows it is fake and they don't care", he said. Coe again called for drugs cheats to be handed a minimum four-year ban from the sport. "Frankly, they don't care that what they are watching isn't real but while people still care, we have to hope we can turn it around, otherwise people will vote with their feet." * Listen to the Coe interview on the BBC Sport website here. | |
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Seb Coe fears athletics may be 'doomed'
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Jerry Nairn says:
I don't see "athletics" as doomed to become like professional wrestling for a couple of reasons.
The steroids in wrestling are real. The competition is fake. It is all about appearance.
I'm not sure what "athletics" means, but track and field is not as popular as professional wrestling for entertainment, at least not here in the US.
Track and field is in danger of sinking to the level of professional football, where drugs and steroids have been epidemic for decades, yet the outcome of the competitions are not predetermined.
The drugs and steroids in American football, and in track and field, are there because of the competition.
simon says:
That's an interesting take on the situation.
As Coe says in the interview, the issue is not that athletes are taking drugs by accident, but that an athlete takes a deliberate decision to cheat. From that point on the competition is fake -- or "illegitimate", as Coe says.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, athletics does not yet appear to have sunk to the level of other sports, like pro American football and WWF, where (allegedly) drug use is endemic. Of course if everyone in a match, game or race is on drugs then it remains a competition. When a race is dominated by one or two drug cheats, the event is fake -- it is not competition, as drugs give such a clear advantage that the outcome IS as predetermined as a wrestling match, only without the conscious co-operation of the losers.
Again as Coe explains, it is the public's ability to spot fake competition that could potentially bring down athletics and has led European track meet promoters to refuse to allow "outed" drug cheats to compete, even if they have served their two-year suspensions.
"Athletics" in Britain is taken to mean track and field and the occasional big race like the Olympic marathon.
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