Sports FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015 42

Doping cloud casts long shadow over

BEIJING: As athletics gears up for the world abuse of doping in my sport,” said Coe. “I over 100 meters since 2013 and recently pion, was cleared of any wrongdoing after an championships in Beijing, a sport torpedoed will maintain that to the very highest level of won a race in Lausanne where no fewer investigation by British offi- by explosive allegations of widespread dop- vigilance.” As the vultures circle athletics than five of the seven runners had previous- cials. But the sport’s governing body is still ing will be desperately hoping to avoid fur- before the world championships, the spec- ly tested positive for banned substances. putting out fires, last weekend denying ther scandal. After winning the vote to tre of doping will thrust intense demands on The notorious 1988 Seoul Olympics final, claims it blocked a survey revealing a third of become the new president of the sport’s new order, as well as its estab- infamous for Ben Johnson’s steroid-fuelled top athletes confessed to cheating. body the IAAF on Wednesday, Sebastian Coe lished heroes. dash to victory, featured six competitors Meanwhile, Russia has been hit by allegations promised zero tolerance for drug cheats after None more so than Jamaican superstar tainted by drugs. Three decades later, athlet- of systematic drug abuse, evoking memories previously blasting media revelations as a , whose rivalry with track’s pan- ics is still fighting the scourge of doping with of the dark old days of sport in former Eastern “declaration of war.” Media reports claimed tomime villain in the 100 several high-profile athletes under the Bloc countries and leading to calls that the that data from 12,000 blood tests between metres represents, to many, a battle microscope, including Bolt’s close friend, country should be hit with a blanket ban. 2001 and 2012 had revealed an “extraordi- between light and dark. Amid the steady Briton Mo Farah, whose coach Alberto Olympic 800 meters champion Maria nary extent of cheating” and that more than drip-drip of doping controversies in recent Salazar has been hit by allegations he gave Savinova’s apparent confession in an under- 50 Olympic and world gold medals during years, both Coe and his rival for the IAAF his athletes performance-enhancing drugs. cover documentary that she had used the that period could be tainted by drug use. presidency, Sergey Bubka, promised a crack- Farah’s training partner, fellow distance run- banned steroid oxandrolone came after a The allegations by the Sunday Times and down on drug cheats as they bid to replace ner Galen Rupp, was one of those implicat- spate of failed tests before the 2012 London German broadcaster ARD triggered lurid Lamine Diack. But the pressure on Bolt will ed, with Salazar accused of doping him with Games and subsequent bans for walk cham- headlines likening athletics to cycling, be immense, with the six-times Olympic the anabolic steroid testosterone in 2002 pions Valery Borchin, Sergei Kirdyapkin and whose dark history of doping scandals cul- champion-one of the most tested athletes in when Rupp was a teenager. Olga Kaniskina. Kenya continues to investi- minated in disgraced American Lance sport-billed as the savior of a sport in danger gate an alarming spike in doping cases in the Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour of slipping into a moral abyss. Gatlin, twice Dark old days country after more than 30 athletes failed de France titles. “There is a zero tolerance to banned for doping offences, is unbeaten Farah, the double London Olympic cham- tests in the past two years. — AFP

Asians on a mission in Bolt’s jet stream

BEIJING: As they jostle in the jet stream of Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin, Asian sprinters will be battling for regional bragging rights at the athletics world championships in Beijing. Just reaching the final of the 100 or 200 meters would be an astonishing achievement for an Asian ath- lete given the gulf in quality. While Jamaican giant Bolt, who holds the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds, is like- ly to be a speck in the distance, the tussle between ’s Bingtian and champion of Qatar should provide an absorbing conti- nental subplot. Ogunode, Qatar’s Nigerian-born import, completed the double at last year’s Asian Games, winning the 100m in 9.93 and the 200m in 20.14 after returning from a two-year doping ban. But locals will be roaring on Su, who earlier this year became the first Asian-born athlete to break the 10-sec- ond barrier when he clocked 9.99 in a meeting in Eugene behind race winner Tyson Gay. Hailing from a rural corner of China’s south-eastern province, Su once carried bags for China’s top track stars before making his breakthrough by win- ning the national title in 2011. His rivalry with Japan’s BEIJING: athlete Usain Bolt gestures during a press conference before the Athletics World Championships in Yoshihide Kiryu has so far failed to live up to its billing, Beijing yesterday. The Athletics World Championships will open today and run through August 30. — AFP however, mainly because of niggling injuries to the Japanese teen sensation. Kiryu, 19, ran a wind-assisted 9.87 seconds in Texas earlier this year but has been Bolt in Gatlin’s crosshairs forced to pull out of the world championships with a muscle tear. BEIJING: Usain Bolt comes to the world cham- the track in London ahead of Beijing. “I have of a 33-year-old who’s run those four years and Japan, however, have already unearthed a new gem in pionships in Beijing caught in the crosshairs of been putting in the work and I can see it is feels tired,” Gatlin told AFP in an interview last schoolboy Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, who stormed controversial rival Justin Gatlin in what promis- coming out on the track. It definitely looks month of his longevity and current prowess. to gold in the 100 and 200 meters at last month’s world es to be one of the closest fought sprint rival- good.” On 100m times recorded in 2015, Bolt is “My being away from the sport has been a gift youth championships in Cali, Colombia. Born in the ries seen in a long time. Bolt has dominated now ranked number six, Gatlin topping the list and a curse in a way. For me it’s saddening I southern Japanese city of Fukuoka to a Japanese mother sprinting over the past seven years since he with a personal best of 9.74sec set in Doha in had to be away, but I’m able to have had ade- and a Ghanaian father, the 16-year-old will become the claimed a golden treble at the 2008 Olympics May, having also clocked 9.75 twice and 9.78. quate rest and sit back and see my opponents youngest athlete to represent Japan at the world cham- held at the same Bird’s Nest stadium that will Gatlin cuts a controversial figure on the track and their growth and use that to my advan- pionships. Sani Brown, who switched from football to stage the worlds between August 22-30. scene, readily admitting that a four-year dop- tage.” There is never a shortage of people will- track while in elementary school and credits his recent The towering Jamaican went on to claim ing ban served between 2006-10 after a posi- ing to shoot Gatlin down. He was shunned by success to rap music and at least 12 hours’ sleep a day, an unprecedented second treble at the tive test for testosterone had been both “a gift organizers of this month’s London Anniversary has been called up for the longer sprint largely for experi- London Games in 2012 and has won every and a curse”. The Florida-based sprinter has Games, when Bolt made his comeback. And ence ahead of next year’s Rio Olympics. world sprint and relay title on offer, bar a hic- since hit the peak of his form at the age of 33 track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, The lanky six-footer already has one claim to fame: cup in the 100m in the 2011 Daegu worlds and has established himself as firm favorite in recently changed their rules for their presti- his 200m time of 20.34 seconds at the world youth when he was disqualified after a false start. both the 100 and 200m on the back of an gious Athlete of the Year awards, insisting that championships broke the previous meet best held by Bolt, who has held the 100m and 200m world unbeaten streak of 27 races dating back to a convicted doping cheat was not eligible. none other than the world’s fastest man, Bolt. Although records since 2009, last month roared back August 2013. With Bolt’s early-season injury Gatlin is quick to deflect talk of that issue to the Jamaican’s 200m world record of 19.19 is some way from an early season pelvic injury that saw him concerns and the loaded schedule of races to his rival Bolt. “One thing I can say about Usain off, the callow Japanese sprinter can only benefit from miss six weeks of competitive action with be run in the Chinese capital, the American is is that he is a gamer, he’s a showman, he’ll rise rubbing shoulders with track’s speed kings. Former back-to-back 100m times of 9.87sec at the confident of adding to a medal haul that to the occasion when it’s time to do so. All that Olympic medalist Ato Boldon recently compared Sami London Diamond League meeting. includes 2004 Olympic 100m gold, 2005 world other stuff is not pressure for him,” he said. Brown’s performances in Colombia to Bolt at the 2008 “I am still number one,” insisted the 28- sprint double golds, 2012 world 60m indoor “Usain woke up in the semi-finals in London in Beijing Olympics. And as he prepares to share the same year-old. “I will continue being number one. gold, London Olympic 100m bronze and 2012 and went out there and did what he had rarified air as Bolt and Gatlin, the youngster told local Until I retire, that’s the plan. “It does help the Moscow world silver. to do and I predict (he’ll be planning to do) the media: “I want to carry on doing my thing and take on confidence,” he said of his successful return to “My body feels it’s like a 27-year-old instead same thing for Beijing.— AFP the world’s best.”— AFP