Sprint Nation Jamaica: Born to run or born to cheat.
The year was 1988. East Germany was a powerful force in Athletics. The Berlin Wall was still standing. And doping was rife within Communist blocs but also Capitalist ones too. Here was a chance to make it.
In that same year. A powerful athlete named Florence-Griffith Joyner. had just broken the Women’s 100m record to 10.49 seconds by almost half a second. This is a record which still stands in 2023.
[How did she do it ?]
The lineup of the Olympic 100m Final for Women in Seoul 1988 consisted of 5 runners from the Eastern Bloc, formerly East Germany, USSR, Bulgaria and about 3 from Western Countries. Two came from the USA, Flo-Jo and Evelyn Ashford and one from Jamaica – [Name inserted].
During this time, we can verify that East Germany underwent a process of systematic doping for its track and field team. As can be verified by many athletes that fled, and discussed the training regimes even supplying the testosterone tablets they were given to train with by authorities. Many complained of the side effects, and were often compelled to under duress. Those that competed with these drugs were able to outrun many track and field athletes that were never to be. We know that the East Germans and Soviets were doping, so how do we know Florence Griffith-Joyner representing the West and the United States wasn’t doping as well ? The answer lies in the margin she beat the East Germans and Soviets by in the 100m final setting a time of 10.54 seconds. This is a time that has only been matched once in the past 32 years. We also know that every start runner in that final, similar to the mens (see Ben Johnson Seoul 1988), has been implicated or found to have doped. The exceptions being Americans, Evelyn Ashford, and the World Record holder, Florence Griffith-Joyner who beat everybody to the Gold Medal. That 0.3 seconds is the same time distance that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt peformaned in the mens series that will likely take a lifetime to break or even come close.
[Two Part Series: Jamaica and Usain Bolt]
The mens 100 metre record was reduced by 0.25 seconds when Usain Bolt hit the track at the 2009 Mens World Championships in Berlin. The record was rescued from 9.73 down towards 9.72 by Jamaica’s Asafa Powell, and then gradually rescued down to 9.69 and finally 9.58 seconds during Berlin’s 100m track final by Usain Bolt. The trend of a World Record had traditionally been done by reducing the record by increments of 0.01 seconds and shaving seconds off at a time. What was more astonishing, was that the man who finished second, Tyson Gay, ran a time of 9.69 Had Tyson Gay ran that time in any other meet at any other point in history he would have won gold. That time remains the second fastest time in history until this day. The sight of Tyson Gay shaking his head at the finish was as memorable as Bolt’s new world record of 9.58 in a Gold Medal winning run.
So, how can one prove Usain Bolt had been doping ?
This question starts off with the Jamaican relay team who won Gold in the 4x100m final across Olympic finals across Beijing, London and Rio. Asafa Powell, who ran a PB of 9.72 and was a WR was caught using the stimulant and amphetamine Oxiofrine in 2013. He was subsequently handed an 18-month ban from the track reduced to 6-months by the Court of Arbitration for sport. Asafa Powell has run the most sub-100m times in track history.
Yohan Blake, who runs the 3rd leg before providing it to the Anchor, first tested positive in 2009 for a banned stimulant Methylhexanamine. As this was not on WADA’s banned list of stimulants at the time, the Jamaican ADA appealed the ban and he was first handed a ban for 3-months. His peak form came in 2012 where he consistently ran under 9.80 seconds, running a personal best in Laussane, Switzerland of 9.69 which tied for the joint second fastest time in history, alongside Tyson Gay. Only Usain Bolt has run faster.
We then move to the Jamaican team mate Nesta Carter, who ran the third anchor leg in 2008 in the 4x100m relay final in Beijing. This is probably one of the most important cases. Nesta Carter was good sprinter, but not a great sprinter by any standards. Jamaican’ Carter, had averaged around 10 seconds for his professional running career. Not good enough to win a gold medal, but good enough get him through the heat stages. In 2010, Rieti, Italy, he ran what was at the time the 5th fastest time in history at 9.78. This equalled the record of Canadian Ben Johnson ran the same time at the 1988 Seoul Olympics who later fell from grace. Could Nesta Carter have improved ? I hear you say. Well, his personal best before this was 9,91 and to consider that he broke his own personal best by 0.13 seconds didn’t at the time raise suspicion. However, when drug samples were re-analyzed from the 2008 Beijing olympics, Carter’s A and B sample tested positive for the drug methylhexanamine. This was the same drug that Blake got caught for in 2009, but by this time in 2017 it was now on WADA’s banned list. As a result, the Jamaican team was stripped of their relay medal and Trinidad & Tobago were elevated to champions. This stripped Bolt of the Gold Medal and put a DQ next to his name from the 2008 Beijing relay final.
We also look to Bolts sprint coach Glen Mills who had the position of head coach of Jamiaican Athletics from 1987-2009. During this time he became notorious for improving the stamina of athletes within the space of a year. Either he was very good with his methods, or Athletes under his stewardship were using drugs. When examining the 200 meters from the London final which Bolt was expected to win – being his favourite event. Bolt finished first, with Blake in second but it was the third place finish by a fresh faced 23 year old named Warren Weir that was a surprise. Glen Mills had 5 runners under his training programs that tested positive for banned substances. Yohan Blake was one of those runners and the fact that Warren Weir placed third, a largely unknown runner, finished with the Bronze and disappeared of the track with his career soon afterwards was raises suspicion. The fact that all 3 runners in that 200m race came out of Mills track club in Kingston cannot be overlooked. Either he is very good, very lucky or his athletes were cheating.
When asked about the number of athletes testing positive out of Jamaica, Mills said in an interview “everyone is banging on the Jamaicans because of our success, and the truth of the matter is that our success has come through hard work, excellent coaches and making the best use of our facilities that are below world-class standards.” This is despite the Jamaican ADA was created 2008 and Mills retiring from his post in 2009. [Guardian].
In other words, there was no oversight for the island nation prior to 2008 to keep a track record of records, and therefore, it has little to no data past or present on track athletes. This was despite Wada conceding in 2013 that Jamaican track athletes had been tested as little as once per year. This was an astonishing revelation.
Finally, we have running magazines top ten fastest times in history. The magazine reads that, “of [these] runners, only two have a clean record, with a third runner facing charges that weren’t upheld. That means 70 per cent of that list has served a suspension for doping.”
The List:
The top 10 list
1 Usain Bolt, Jamaica – clean
2 Tyson Gay, USA – banned before 2013 world championships
3 Yohan Blake, Jamaica – banned before 2009 world championships
4 Asafa Powell, Jamaica – banned after 2013 world championships
5 Justin Gatlin, USA – banned in 2001 and again in 2006 6 Christian Coleman, USA – banned in 2020
7 Nesta Carter, Jamaica – banned after 2008 Olympics (gets Jamaican team, which included Bolt, disqualified)
8 Maurice Greene, USA – never banned, but faced allegations .
9 Steve Mullings, Jamaica – banned in 2004 and 2011
10 Richard Thompson, Trinidad – clean
Provided by Running Magazine .ca
Usain Bolt, along with Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago remain the only two track athletes to have never doped. All things being equal, there is no doubt that Usain Bolt is one of the most gifted athletes of all time. However, the way in which he broke world records by .10 seconds at a time is not in line with historic World Record trends. The fastest man of all time at at the top of the list clean above all the other dopers remaining clean raises a lot of questions than answers as he absolutely cleaned out the division not only with his natural ability but with what looks like to be doping comparing the data. The evidence is only circumstantial, and guilt by association in combination with the times of historical records broken in the mens 100 metres. I have no doubt that had there not been a culture of doping within Athletics that Bolt would still be top of the pile. However, to use a quote by Hein Verbruggen, head of UCI for Cycling under the era of Lance Armstrong, “The athletes have to prepare”. I guess this means that we also want to be entertained as the fans and are willing to put up with it for the time being.
