Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 122, September 2019 | Page 16

SPORT MAN
Says
By
Manfred Seidler
What’s the Dope?
How often have we said, “Wow, what an unbelievable performance!” after an athlete puts in a jaw-dropping performance?
The problem is, can we trust that performance? Unfortunately, history points to the need for healthy scepticism, and it is
the role of the media to ask these questions.
Usain Bolt
16
Looking outside of running, Lance Armstrong won
seven Tour De France titles on the trot, repeatedly
destroying the other riders going up the infamous Alp
du Huez climb. Who can forget the day he looked
into the eyes of his then biggest rival, Jan Ulrich, and
dropped the German as if he was a child just learning
to ride a bike. And in swimming, we saw Michael
Phelps win 28 gold medals in four Olympic Games,
eight of which came in 2008.
Lance
Armstrong
Freaks or Cheats?
At the time, all of these feats, and many others, left
us awestruck, and many still do... even the tainted
results of Lance. They stand out because they are so
far ahead of the rest. But it begs the question: Are
these athletes just freaks of nature, and should we
simply accept that these (and others) are legitimate
performances? No, absolutely not, because the
media’s responsibility is to ask the hard questions,
however unpopular they may be.
Whilst Armstrong was completely dominating the Tour,
few questioned his performances. Many thought he
had too much to lose by doping, especially considering
his foundation, and his credibility surrounding his
fight against cancer. Yet, if it wasn’t for the tenacity of
journalist David Walsh, Lance may have gotten away
with the greatest con in sporting history. David was
even ostracised by his fellow journo’s, as they feared
that just being associated with him could lead to them
being denied access to the greatest cyclist the world
had ever seen. But it was David’s bulldogged attitude
that saw to the fall of Lance. at the moment the 2019 performances of Namibian
Helalia Johannes, the 2018 Commonwealth Games
marathon champion, are being questioned in many
circles. In 2019, at the age of 39, she has unexpectedly
improved her marathon PB by nearly four minutes in
Japan, set a new half marathon PB in the Two Oceans
Half, and recorded three 10km PBs on the way to
winning five out of five Spar Women’s Challenge races.
This has also seen her set five new Namibian national
records, from 10km to the marathon. Some have
questioned her performances, and have suffered a
barrage of abuse for raising those questions.
My point? Quite simply that every outrageous or
far-out performance should be queried. For example, It is the very nature of these outlying performances,
though, that is raising the questions. And there is a
ISSUE 122 SEPTEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Roger
I
n 2009, Usain Bolt streaked away from the
opposition in both the 100m and 200m to set world
records that look unlikely to be broken in many a
year, if one looks at the current crop of sprinters. In
the marathon, Eliud Kipchoge has set the bar so high
with his win in the Berlin Marathon in 2018, that he
is being called a freak of nature. Meanwhile, Paula
Radcliffe has owned the women’s world record in the
marathon since 2003 – only Mary Keitany and Ruth
Chepngetich have even come within two minutes
of her time, and only as recently as 2017 and 2019
respectively.