© Copyright – 2015 – Athletics Illustrated
The Lausanne, Switzerland Diamond League meet on Thursday, July 9th will feature at least five drug cheats go head-to-head in the 100-metre sprint, they are Asafa Powell, Justin Gatlin, Femi Ogunode, Mike Rodgers and Tyson Gay.
Gay is still in denial and continues to blame someone else, a massage therapist. Usain Bolt says that Gay should be banned for life and he should be, so should Powell and Gatlin, shame on the meet organisers for allowing this mockery of sportsmanship to continue.
Powell has run three of the world’s six fastest times in 2015 with a best of 9.81. Meanwhile Gatlin has run as fast as 9.74, while Gay has run 9.87.
These athletes are over 30 years of age and are magically producing world-class times near their own personal bests from when they were in the prime of their lives, nearly a decade ago. Powell and Gay are both 32-years-of-age, while Gatlin is 33.
Although Kim Collins has not been caught with a positive drug test, he is 39 years old. He ran his lifetime personal best almost exactly a year ago – at the age of 38. He ran 9.96 on July 20th.
Rodgers may have a legitimate claim of inadvertently ingesting methylhexaneamine from an energy drink. He did accept a nine month ban.
The only other athlete in this race is Keston Bledman, he owns a best of 9.86 from this season.
This race won’t be the dirtiest race in history, but it can be acknowledged as one of the dirtiest races when knowing in advance that cheats are competing. The IAAF and WADA need to introduce lifetime bans for athletes, coaches, agents and medical personal that are proven guilty. This clown show has got to stop.
