Athletics has received another metaphorical kicking this week from those who believe that it is a mess of drugs and dregs, but the man who has taken a moral stance over the controversial return of Dwain Chambers mounted a vigorous defence of his sport.
“The reality is we’re doing as well as we usually do, club membership is going up and we’re financially vibrant,” Niels de Vos, the chief executive of UK Athletics (UKA), said. “It’s not like we’re polishing a turd.”
De Vos has had a trying week, praised by many after calling for life bans for dopers but criticised by others for not having the legal clout to back up his convictions. It means that Chambers, who completed a two-year drugs ban in 2005, lines up in the 60 metres at the Norwich Union World Indoor Trials in Sheffield tomorrow. If he wins and UKA takes refuge in the small print of its selection criteria, allowing it to make “value judgments” on “exceptional circumstances”, the athlete’s lawyer has promised a High Court battle.
It is all very messy and a shame that the trials, which start today at the English Institute of Sport, have been overshadowed. Olympic medal hopes such as Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis, the heptathletes, are in action, while Craig Pickering, Simeon Williamson and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, the rising sprint stars, will take on Chambers for a place in Valencia next month. “He’s just one more person to beat,” Pickering, an advocate of life bans for drug cheats, said.
De Vos, though, is fed up that another event is being dominated by the drugs issue and insists that British athletics is in a healthy condition. “Our objective is to be the best in Europe, which is a nonsense in population terms, and in the top five in the world,” he said. “Most other sports in this country would die for that level of success.
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“I would far rather be our head of development than Trevor Brooking [at the Football Association], who has got a massive problem in changing the culture of football, which is endemic with bad coaching, bullying and poor facilities. Athletics is a lot, lot better and we can make rapid progress.”
De Vos floated ideas such as a European Super League or inter-city matches as he considered how to reinvigorate the sport, but he knows that the underlying problem is one of public perception.
He cited the cases of Andy Murray, the British No1 tennis player, and Jo Pavey, the long-distance runner, to back up his point.
“Andy Murray is not ranked in the top ten in the world and Jo Pavey is consistently in the top five, an absolutely bloody amazing thing, but she will never be seen in the same way by the mass populace,” De Vos said. “It’s annoying, but we are an easy target for journalists.”
Athletics is not the only sport that cheats. The trial of the Juventus football club doctor for allegedly administering banned drugs to one of the most successful teams of the 1990s did not mean that the entire sport was damned as rotten. However, there is no point throwing stones from the glasshouse and athletics has lots of “previous”.
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The lead, De Vos thinks, must come from the top. “The IAAF [the world governing body] has to take charge,” he said. “You can’t just say two thirds of the population can’t afford out-of-competition testing so we won’t bother. That’s a nonsense. But I’m not one who says it’s unfair that the playing field isn’t level because you have to have your own standards. We are the most vigorously tested sport in the UK bar none.”
Inevitably, the return of Chambers will grab the attention, but with De Vos leading a review of Britain’s doping policy, which he hopes will result in life bans and rule changes regarding selection, this may be one comeback that does not run and run.
Higher, faster, longer
Norwich Union World Indoor Trials and UK Championships
(at English Institute of Sport, Sheffield)
Today (noon to 6.30pm):
Men’s high jump - Tom Parsons, one of the surprise successes of the World Championships, leads the field.
Women’s 200 metres - Joice Maduaka hopes to win the first leg of a 200 metres and 60 metres sprint double.
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Tomorrow (10am to 2.30pm; Live coverage on BBC2 from 12.30pm):
Men’s 60 metres - UKA will hope that Craig Pickering spares its blushes, and a court case, by beating Dwain Chambers.
Women’s 800 metres - One of the most competitive events in which Marilyn Okoror and Jenny Meadows go head to head.