Drugs: The Sadness of Long-Distance Running
By Amby Burfoot
Rashid Ramzi was stripped of his 2008 1500-meter gold medal after failing a drug test. Photo Victah Sailer
Yesterday was a gloomy one for clean-running fans. A Kenyan star admitted to taking drugs. And a little-known Algerian runner won the 1500-meters in quasi-ridiculous fashion.
The first report came from Germany, where Matthew Kisorio (a 58:46 half marathoner), having recently failed a doping test, apparently acknowledged his guilt. Such admissions are about as rare as Jabberwocky sightings. While we need more confirmation of this story, it doesn't sound good. Worse, Kisorio claimed that drugs like the anabolic steroid he took are readily available to runners in the Rift Valley, home to many of Kenya's greatest runners.
Last night, Taoufik Makhloufi won the 1500 with a stunning kick that carried him well clear of the field. You saw that, and you saw his final time, 3:34:08. Americans Leo Manzano and Matt Centrowitz finished second and fourth.
But you didn't hear the whisperings just yards beyond the track. Several of the U.S.'s most respected track writers were trading barbs. They would never, and could never, write what they were thinking, because it is pure speculation, not the stuff of serious journalism. But here's what I heard.
"A few years from now that will be a first and third for Leo and Centro."
"Or maybe first and second."
Their meaning: Drug testing will soon, or perhaps a decade from now, turn up suspicious substances in Makhloufi's obligatory sample. And perhaps in that of bronze medalist, Abdalaati Iguider of Morocco. These days, drug samples are frozen for future analysis as detection methods improve.
Yes, I know about racism. I know about a host of other "isms." But I find myself nodding with the whispers I noted above. Here's why: In the 2009 Berlin World Championships, Makhloufi failed to advance from the semis, running 3:37.87. Two years later at the Daegu World Championships, same thing, only slower, 3:50.86.
Then, just five weeks ago, out of nowhere, he dropped a bomb: a 1:43.88 for 800 meters, more than two seconds faster than his previous best. A week before the Olympic opening, he did it again, running a 3:30.80 for 1500 meters.
Those are out-of-this world times, even for a guy who has run 3:32.94 and 3:34.4 the past two years.
Maybe he's just coming into his prime; maybe he has just come into something else. We don't know, but it's hard not to be skeptical. (By the way, this morning Iguider ran 13:15.49 in his 5000 heat to qualify for the final. Everyone's talking about Mo and Galen having a shot for two distance medals here in London, but Iguider's also in that queue.)
I wish I had more answers to the questions I'm raising here. I wish someone did. The World Anti-Doping Agency has invested a lot of time and money in keeping the sport clean. And it can point to progress that has been made, especially in the area of "biological passports." But WADA hasn't rid sports of drugs.
On that front, we have a long way to go, and yesterday was a depressing day.
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