It’s been the rare occasion that I’ve been in agreement with Carl Lewis. He’s been "controversial" during much of his association with the sport of track and field going back to the 1980s. But as I read this article I found myself nodding my head in agreement.

While I’ve been trying my best to just enjoy the competition this indoor season, DOPING continues to dominate the headlines. Stories about the various finalists from the women’s 1500 final in London, discovered to have doped. Continuing issues with Russia and it’s "anti"doping program. Doping revelations in Ethiopia. Not a week goes by without discussions of doping in track and field in the news.

This has been seemingly ongoing since 2002 when BALCO burst upon the scene. We learned then about "designer" drugs, "undetectable" drugs, and the need to use "blood passports" in the fight against doping. And as the anti doping agencies have begun to implement more sophisticated techniques (I’ve been screaming for blood passports for a decade) we’ve begun to catch the more sophisticated dopers! Unfortunately (actually fortunately) we’ve also discovered that members of various federations AND even the IAAF have been implicitly involved in the implementation and cover up of doping programs!

This is where Carl Lewis’ comments come into play for me, because Carl is calling for an independent body to come in and deal with cleaning up the doping/anti doping aspect of track and field – and I completely agree!

We’ve already discovered that the previous year of the IAAF, Lamine Diack, was participatory and complicit with much of the previous doping activity. While that does not automatically implicate the rest of the agency, staff, and board, it does say that the potential to have been in a position of knowledge does exist. More importantly, it shows the type of conflict of interest that exists between the governing body and the federations when it comes to the issue of drugs and doping. It’s why the World Anti Doping Agency exists. It’s why recreations aren’t part of the testing process. It’s why countries have been instructed to set up separate anti doping agencies – such as USADA. And it’s why I complained when Jamaica failed to implement a proper testing program and the IAAF stepped in and said,"don’t worry WE’LL take care of their testing! As we’ve discovered this past year, separation of those dependent on the competition, and those who monitor it’s validity is paramount to insure proper testing and reporting of same!

So, no offense to Mr. Coe, his staff, or the IAAF in general, but an independent body DOES need to be brought in to ferret out the problems; ensure that ALL programs are running properly/effectively; prosecute those found to be doping, as well as any federations found to be implicit; and then turn things over to the IAAF/Mr. Coe to manage going forward.

I liken this situation to 1988 when the sport faced perhaps it’s biggest doping scandal with the positive test of Ben Johnson in the middle of the Olympic Games itself. Canada was embarrassed by the situation and rather than let it’s federation clean it’s own house, held the now famous Dubin Inquiry. A hearing that among other things resulted in the banning of Johnson as well as several other athletes found to be involved in doping. It banned the coach involved in the systemic doping of Johnson and his teammates and created Canada’s anti doping agency – one of the sports’ first!

This is the attitude and impact that someone from the "outside" can have. No "sacred" cows. No one "off limits". Find the problems; get rid of them; move on. Will it hurt? Probably. Who knows what will be discovered. But we’ve been limping along now for at least a decade and a half – THAT has been painful enough! It’s time to get this monkey off our back and move on – before we become completely irrelevant as a sport. When the dust settles, we’ll be a clean and better sport, and Lord Coe can be about the business of building the sport – his hands clean of the purge! That’s the ideal position for both he and the sport to be in. That’s where we need to be. Like Carl I believe we need to go outside of the sport at this point to get it done right!

Tags: Anti-doping, Carl Lewis, Doping, IAAF