Rashid Ramzi: A Good Scalp

Edward Ovadia

Email: edwardovadia [at] gmail.com

© 2009 The Runner's Tribe, all rights reserved. Published Saturday May 2, 2009

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 So Rashid Ramzi has been busted for drug use. He's tested positive for CERA, an advanced form of EPO. Which is what many people have been accusing Ramzi of for years.

Rashid Ramzi is a perfect example of the on-and-off pattern of a drug user. After an incredible 2005 World Champs, where Ramzi took gold in the 800m and 1500m, he disappeared for the next few years, coming back to take silver in 2007, and then gold in 2008. But he is notorious for not racing many lead up races before major championships, where he might be subjected to testing in the off-season and pre-competition periods so important for performance enhancing drug users.

This represents a great achievement for the drug testers, who are keeping samples from Beijing for eight years. This means that drug cheats from 2008 not only have to avoid all tests in 2008, but all tests which might later be developed in the next eight years - something which is impossible to predict. And it looks like the system has worked.

There's no doubt that Ramzi is a big scalp. But the interesting thing is that athletics fans have been pointing the finger at Ramzi for years. Once again, the maxim that 'the fans know' holds true. They have been critical of Ramzi for a long time, and it turns out that they may have been right.

The question then must be asked - who else is using? If Ramzi can get away with it for so long, who else is doing the same? And most importantly, what about all those other athletes who track and field fans are suspect about? We're not here to name names or point fingers (defamation suits don't really look good on us) but every track and field forum reader or athletics fan knows who the usual suspects are, both current and retired. Does the fact that the fans were right about Ramzi mean they are right about these other athletes too? Is the use of performance enhancing drugs really as widespread as we might have feared? Because until Ramzi's use was confirmed, it was easy to point the finger; but much harder to actually believe that he, and all these other athletes, were using PEDs. Having Ramzi test positive is still a big surprise, if only for the fact that people's worst fears may be confirmed. Maybe the use of PED is much more rife than it has appeared so far, a fact that many fans have been proponents of, but not many wanted to believe.

Let's hope not. Let's hope it's just a few individual cases. The majority of athletes don't deserve the scar that these PED users leave on the sport.

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