1 min read
Is there anyone now who takes athletics seriously as a sport rather than as a form of human freakery? The forced admission of Marion Jones that she was a drugs cheat is merely the latest in a long line. A newsworthy story would be the conformation of a winner who was entirely clean.
The significance of the Jones story, of course, is that her disqualification will hand the 2000 Olympic title to another cheat, Ekaterini Thanou.
What a farce. The idea that British taxpayers - and especially London council tax payers - are going to have to fork out billions of pounds to stage the Olympics in 2012 is made even worse by the fact that athletics is so central a part of the 'games' (for which read, more accurately, lab experiments).
Cycling was destroyed as a sport - in the eyes of anyone who isn't a cycling fanatic - by drugs. I'd say athletics has passed the same point. The point is, however, that athletics is no longer fit to be bothered with by anyone concerned with true sport.
To get more from opinion, click here to sign up for our free Editor's Picks newsletter.