Shanghai: Athletics legend Michael Johnson has lashed out at critics of drugs cheat Justin Gatlin, saying they should turn their ire towards the sport’s rulemakers for not enforcing stringent enough doping procedures.
Johnson believes the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) ought to implement a four-year ban for dopers, as opposed to the current two-year penalty.
The American cited the fact that baseball star Alex Rodriguez had received a standing ovation from fans of his club New York Yankees earlier this month, after making a return to the sport after a season-long ban for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
While he neither agrees or disagrees with this acclaim, the multiple Olympic and world champion believes athletics aficionados should be allowed to make their own mind up about a fallen star’s right to return to the sport.
Johnson therefore feels that continually ‘pummelling’ 100-metre and 200-metre sprint star Gatlin, who has served two doping bans, is grossly unfair.
Speaking in Shanghai, Johnson told media: “All we talk about is Gatlin having had been a drug cheat, but we don’t talk about the rules. Well, he’s served his time and now he’s back, then he’s eligible to sprint. “But we keep saying, ‘Some people, some people’. The rules are the rules. I don’t think there’s an absolute, ‘Oh, it’s supposed to be this way, or it’s supposed to be that way.’”
How would he feel if athletics fans rose to cheer Gatlin, who returned to action after serving a four-year ban in 2006-10 for taking performance-enhancing drugs, in the same way as baseball’s Rodriguez was feted?
Johnson said: “I think it’s a case of, ‘Hey, he’s been through something, I’ve been through something and so I am going to cheer for him’. That’s up to the fans.”
Do the public have the same problem with returning drug cheats such as Gatlin, who won the 2004 Olympics 100 metres and then 100-metre and 200-metre gold at the following year’s World Championships, as the media?
The 47-year-old, who now coaches young athletes and is a television pundit, replied: “I’m not sure. Our fans in the sport would probably be mixed. Some would say, ‘yeah, well, once a person serves his time, they’re eligible and they’ve served their punishment and they should be given an opportunity to come back’.
“Some people are going to say, ‘Oh, you should be banned for life’. But those people who say you should be banned for life shouldn’t turn their attention towards Justin. “They should turn their attention to the IAAF and petition the IAAF and say, ‘Hey, we as the fans want a lifetime ban’.
“I don’t know if it’s fair to someone who has done everything they were supposed to do and the sport has said, ‘Hey, you gotta sit out for a few years’.
“And then when you sit out for a few years and come back, I don’t know if it’s fair to pummel that person and say, ‘You shouldn’t be here’. You can’t expect a person to voluntarily go away if they have the right to run.”
Johnson, who won four Olympic gold medals and eight world titles in an illustrious career between 1991 and 2000, also believes Nike should not be pilloried for handing Gatlin a two-year sponsorship deal.
Johnson, who was also a Nike athlete, said of the agreement revealed earlier this month: “I think they are in the same situation with any other fan and say, ‘Look, if the rules say the guy is going to be competing, then my job is to find athletes who have the opportunity to win the medals’. And he’s eligible to win the medals. I think that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Would life bans help clean up athletics?
The Texan said: “No, I don’t think you should get life for a first offence. I think everybody should get an opportunity to come back. I think it should be really difficult and four years would be tough.”
