Like many people who love the sports of running and cycling, I have become increasingly disturbed by the rumors (and actual cases) of performance-enhancing drugs being used by athletes. It has gotten to the point in cycling where I no longer believe a winner acheived victory without the help of PEDs.* It is sad that cycling has sunk that low in my estimation. And, while running has always had its share of cheaters, I always assumed (very naively, as it turns out), that distance running was somehow exempt from cheating.
But with some top distance athletes being caught cheating, and others being accused, fans of distance running have to ask themselves what they are even watching. Are running sports becoming so tainted that the results are meaningless? Have we hit the point where we end up questioning every first-place finish or PR? I hope not. But I fear that is the direction we are heading even as oversight and testing seem to be strengthening.
Perhaps what we need are penalties that really mean something. Bans of a few years don't seem to be enough. Why not take actions that have real teeth? Why not try out lifetime bans for cheaters starting the very first time they are caught? Why should clean athletes have to worry about competing against someone who cheated ever again?
It could even be implemented for a trial period - for example, anyone caught cheating in the 2017 calendar year would be banned from his or her sport for life. I wonder how many positive tests would result. I bet fewer when there was a real punishment on the line. All athletes would know where they stood. There would not be perceived favoritism, where someone gets a slap on the wrist while another athlete gets a more extreme punishment for more-or-less the same behavior. It would simply be over. You played the game. You cheated. You're out. No hard feelings, but you're out.
If the trial period was deemed successful, then the ban could be implemented permanently. And the penalty could easily be extended to coaches of athletes caught cheating as well. If I, as a coach, thought one of my athletes was using and I knew it would cost me my career, I might do a better job of keeping tabs on PED use and I might spend a bit more time preaching ethics and sportsmanship.
An appeal process could be instituted for the athletes who believe they were wrongly punted from their sports. The board overseeing the appeals process could be comprised (at least in part) of recently retired athletes who were proven to have been cheated out of a higher finish in important races or events, who later were given the medals/honors due to them. These athletes on the board would probably have a better understanding of the stakes as well as intimate knowledge of the bad actors within the sports.
Anyway... just my $.02.
*In cycling PEDs can now also mean 'performance-enhancing devices', as a searches for hidden on-board motors are gaining attention.
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