8702120321
DETROIT FREE PRESS
870906
Sunday, September 06, 1987
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO STATE EDITION, Page 1E
Copyright (c) 1987, Detroit Free Press
IT'S MORE HEAT THAN LIGHT WHEN LEWIS YELLS 'DRUGS'
ROME -- There are two things you can count on whenever you hold a big
international track and field competition: (1) A lot of medals will be won by
communist-bloc athletes; (2) sooner or later, somebody will yell "DRUGS!"
All week long at these World Track and Field Championships we've had the
former: East Germany and Russia are cleaning up. And now we have the latter.
"DRUGS!" This from the mouth of Carl Lewis. Where you usually find a foot.
But not this time. Last weekend, Lewis, the multigold Olympic medalist, was
second to Canada's Ben Johnson in a world-record 100 meters. Saturday, Lewis
won the long jump competition.
But it was in between that things got interesting. During a British TV
interview on the ITV network Friday, Lewis said, at one point or another, all
of the following:
"There are gold medalists in this meet who are definitely on drugs. . . .
That race (between Lewis and Johnson) will be looked at for a long time. . . .
There's a strange air at this competition. Runners are coming out of nowhere
and I don't think they're doing it without drugs. . . . If I were to jump to
drugs I could do a 9.8 right away. . . . "
Where does he get this?
Now this is pretty juicy stuff, especially for British television, which
is usually full of programs about butlers, or insects. But juicy or otherwise,
it should not go unquestioned.
What, for example, did Lewis mean by "gold medalists on drugs"? Like who?
"I'm not going to point fingers at anybody," he said Saturday. "A lot of
people are doing it. It's just obvious. . . . It's just something that you and
I know for a fact."
Well. I appreciate the compliment. But the fact is, I don't know. I would
like to know how Carl knows. Is he privy to the urinalysis? Has he actually
seen anyone taking drugs?
"I'm not the only one who can answer those questions. Anyone on this
interview stand can answer. It's not for me to say 'this one' and 'that one.'
I'm just being honest and straightforward."
Well. Maybe. I'd like to believe Lewis is doing this for the good of the
sport. But, the fact is, crying "DRUGS!" is hardly new: As recently as last
summer, at the Goodwill Games in Moscow, U.S. pole vaulters accused Soviet
athletes of taking drugs. Communist nations have long been targets of drug and
blood-doping charges -- mostly because their sports programs are successful
and secret.
I do not doubt certain track and field athletes take drugs or blood-dope.
But if Lewis knows something, I wish he would say so -- if only to keep from
looking as if he doesn't know anything. During his ITV interview, he was
heard to suggest -- in an offhand mumble -- that Ben Johnson's record was
drug- aided. Whoa. Where does he get that? When someone asked him the next
day, point-blank, if that was true, he again said: "I don't think it's fair
to point fingers. . . . "
Which is sort of pointing a finger.
Soon, you question everything
Lewis says drugs are "ruining the sport." He says athletes who test
positive should be "banned for life." He says America should lead the way with
more testing "even though it will definitely put the U.S. program at a
disadvantage."
Ho. Time out. What does that mean? That some of the success we've had so
far has been drug-aided? Us? Not just them? "I don't want to point fingers,"
he repeats.
Now, I applaud Lewis for speaking up on something he feels strongly about.
But here is the danger in this general accusation stuff: You hear enough of
it, and soon, every good performance makes you wonder what was in the orange
juice.
That's not fair. Sure, the U.S. is winning fewer medals than ever in this
sport, and countries such as East Germany are winning more. But consider that:
(1) Our best athletes traditionally have never gone into track and field. They
go into football, baseball, basketball. Not so in most communist- bloc
nations. (2) Studies show that American kids are turning more and more into
couch potatoes, while in countries like East Germany, promising youngsters
are sent off to special sports schools for athletic training. This is not a
defense of their system. It does help explain why the U.S. medalists here are
mostly veterans (Lewis, Edwin Moses, Greg Foster) while many of the younger
standouts are from communist nations.
This, good or bad, can happen without drugs.
Yes, I agree with Lewis. Drugs can ruin a sport. But so can wild
accusations. The medalists here were all tested. If they did something wrong,
it should show up.
Meanwhile, the whole sport echoes "do they?" or "don't they?" Maybe this is
what Lewis wants. Maybe he's just sore over the Johnson defeat.
Who knows? Toward the end of his press conference Saturday, Lewis was
asked if booing from the pro-Italian crowd had bothered the athletes.
"Hey, I won four Olympic gold medals and got booed," he said, laughing.
"How should I know?"
A good question. For a lot of things.