Another World -- in Track and Field

Forget daytime dramas. If you really want to follow a good soap opera, all you have to do is watch our own wonderful world of sports.

Take the story of American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who is facing a lifetime ban from track and field after testing positive for doping after a competition last April. Gatlin denies knowingly taking the substance, and his coach Trevor Graham has accused a masseuse, Christopher Whetstine, of rubbing testosterone-laced cream on the athlete's legs after the race, which caused the positive test result. Doping experts aren't buying that argument.

If Graham's name is familiar, it's because he's been closely associated witht he BALCO drug investigation. From 1997 to 2002, he also trained track star Marion Jones, who was implicated in the BALCO scandal, but never charged. At least seven athletes who have trained with Graham have tested positive for doping. Graham seems like a shady character to say the least, more interested in pointing fingers at other people, so he doesn't have to take any responsibility for his role in this matter.

Sounds like a good old-fashioned daytime drama. But wait, there's more.

To make matters more interesting, the masseuse in this story line, Christopher Whetstine has a felony drug conviction from 1993, and in 2003, was disciplined by the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists for "engaging in conduct that could endanger the health or safety of a client or the public." Basically, he was using techniques on clients that he was not licensed to practice.

If you're Justin Gatlin, or any athlete for that matter, why are you hanging around with these "dopes" (pun intended)? They're both bad news in my book.

Gatlin may be facing the lifetime ban, and maybe he deserves it regardless if he knowingly took testosterone or not. Whetstine should be investigated too; he has enough questionable issues in his background that I doubt his innocence in this case.

Graham has been on the hot seat for several years, and I think U.S. track and field officials are onto him, but have yet to prove that he has done anything illegal. So far, Graham has been banned only from U.S. training facilities, which is silly, considering his athletes don't train at those facilities anyway. But maybe that's a start. Next step is to ban him from the sport altogether and keep him away from the athletes.

This is just one example of the doping issues that have plagued track and field for years. Now we understand why the sport is in so much trouble.

U.S. Track and Field