The compulsion to cheat seems to be as common in sports as the authentic desire to win playing fair. Cycling is perhaps the sport with the most evidence and doping scandals, but athletics is not far behind: Justin Gatlin, Marion Jones, Dwain Chambers, Ben Johnson are some of the most famous names tainted by doping.
And distance running? Until now it had remained relatively clean (or rather, they hadn't found it dirty), but it's increasingly evident that it's plagued with cheaters. Russia, China and Kenya are just some of the countries whose dirty laundry has been exposed recently. The Russian Athletics Federation faces a serious wave of accusations that could even prevent Russian athletes from competing in Rio 2016. Among the accused athletes are the gold and bronze medalists in the 800 meters from the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The systematic doping of Chinese athletes in the eighties and nineties also seems to be coming to light, starting with the world record in the 10,000 meters by Chinese runner Wang Junxia, which has been standing for over 25 years and no one has come within 20 seconds of it. Such performance naturally raises suspicions, but until now nothing has been proven.
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A letter apparently sent by Chinese athletes to a reporter from their country 19 years ago says that "for many years [the coach] forced us to take large doses of illegal drugs". The IAAF authorities are investigating the authenticity of the letter to decide on sanctions, which could include the elimination of Junxia's fabulous record and her Olympic medal from Atlanta '96.
Given so many cases, one has to ask: is there anyone clean out there? Is there anyone honest left? How many world records and Olympic medals are false due to doping? These are somewhat pessimistic questions, I confess. It's very difficult to imagine legends like Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie in bad shape, and honestly I believe they and many others are magnificent runners and their performance has been honest. But inevitably the wave of cheating that has been uncovered recently everywhere makes one suspect more.
Doping in Costa Rican athletics has remained relatively untouched, but it could be due to lack of efficient controls and not because it doesn't happen. Setting the elite aside, it would seem logical to think that in any street race, especially marathons and half marathons, there is a (high?) percentage of athletes who draw strength from where they shouldn't. What would happen if they suddenly conducted a surprise anti-doping test here at a race? How many cheaters are among us? It doesn't matter anyway, since we're not fighting for Olympic medals. To each their own with the honesty of their personal records, but out of simple curiosity, how many are there?
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