RECENTLY I received an email from someone in America. He must have chanced online upon an article I wrote some months ago about the erstwhile Olympic champion Marion Jones’ fall from grace. She was stripped of her medals for involvement in drugs.

“I am so distressed over the Marion Jones’ affair. She is just one of the many famous athletes who used drugs. I think the Olympics Council should just face the fact that drugs in sports are here to stay. Perhaps it is better to legalise the use of drugs. . .”

“Wow” I thought, “that was a bit of an over-reaction.” However in the last few weeks I gave that radical suggestion a bit of a thought and did some research. Interestingly enough I found that the idea of legalising drugs is not exactly new: a number of famous sports personalities had broached it.

Let me start with the former Australian Commonwealth Games doctor Tony Miller who is now 83 years old. He first called for drugs to be legalised 40 years ago, and he has not changed his mind. Then there is Ron Clark, the great distance runner and one of most revered sporting figures, he told the Australian Associated Press in July, 2002 that athletes should be permitted to use performance enhancing drugs.

More recently on October 14, 2007 the renowned swimming coach Don Talbot did an amazing U-turn and called for a radical rethink on performance-enhancing drugs. He urged authorities to consider legalising the use of drugs. Talbot is not just a renowned coach, he is one of the most successful coaches the world has seen having produced a string of Olympic Champions and World Record Holders since the 1950s.

I said “amazing U-turn” because this the very same Don Talbot who in 1998 called for the whole Chinese swimming team to be thrown out of the World Swimming Championship when four of their swimmers were tested positive.

“Let them all cheat, it’s the only answer,” said Talbot after the public admission by Marion Jones to drug taking. So I would be in good company if I advocate the legalisation of the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports.

Let’s examine some the reasons given for prohibiting the use of drugs. “Those who use drugs cheat,” they proclaimed. In fact a number of famous Olympic champions had been most vociferous in denouncing the some-called drug cheats. Some of them even took to wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words “No to Drug Cheats”, that was until they themselves were caught.

I beg to differ from Don Talbot’s “Let them all cheat” meaning let everyone use drugs if they want to. If the performance enhancing drugs were legalised then using drugs would not be cheating. What really is cheating is what is going on up till now. Those who have the financial support have been able to hide their wrongdoings through sophisticated science which rendered them out of range of the drug detection radar. In some countries the sports governing bodies are particularly lenient and allow those caught to successfully fend off disgrace through the complicated legal technical process.

“It’s not a level playing field, those who use drug gain unfair advantage,” said some. International competitive sports have never been about level playing fields. Just compare the resources available to the athletes from the advanced industrial countries and those from the developing countries. The former have the latest equipment, supplement and technical and financial backup to enable them to train full time while many sportsmen from the poorer countries have to worry about their rice bowls first.

Many years ago in the 70s in the Football World Cup it was reported that one of the poorer teams was worried about doing too well, in case they managed to get through the preliminary round.

The reason was that they only had budget for a week’s stay. It is not a level playing field when one considers that the sum needed for their extended stay was not much more the individual weekly salaries of the players from the opposing teams.

“Performance-enhancing drug could damage the health,” is one of the mantras churned out by the sports authorities, a statement which the respected Dr. Tony Miller disagreed. He said the health risks associated with steroid use were sensationalised. “I’ve given anabolic steroids to 4000-5000 people and I’ve never had a problem.” However, when asked if he ever administered drugs to Australian athletes at the Commonwealth Games, Miller said coyly: “I wouldn’t tell you that.”

What we know as a fact is that extreme competition which demands pushing the bodies beyond their natural limits is bad for the health, not only at the time of competition but also during the trainings. There had been many, though not well publicised, cases of serious injuries in sports. In fact the first person who really pushed himself in the Marathon died.

It was said that in 490 BC the King of Persia sent a fleet of 25,000 soldiers to attack Greece. The troops landed in the coastal town of Marathon, where they were met by 10,000 armed Athenians. The Athenians successfully battled the Persians in Marathon, but some of Persian soldiers set sail for Athens.

The Athenians sent a runner, Pheidippides, back to Athens to warn of the imminent attack by sea. On August 12th, 490 BC the messenger ran the 26 miles distance without stopping. He reached Athens to deliver the warning but died from exhaustion. What we now know as the Marathon commemorates that heroic run.

The new WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) chief John Fahey who recently took over helm of that powerful world body typically came out with a tough zero tolerance stance against drug.

“We can’t give up the fight. We need to continue the fight, get better in the fight. Ensure the deterring practices are there, the investigative ability, the scientific back-up is better and, ultimately, we need to change any cultural views that allow people to think there can be a fraud in sport.”

He went on to announce that the authority would spend hundred of millions of dollars to set up laboratories to test for drugs. I wonder wouldn’t it better if those millions could be channelled to carrying out tests and clinical trials to ensure that drugs can be legally and safely used.

The legalising of drugs would also make available a huge sum of sponsorship money from the pharmaceutical companies. As it is the many athletes are competing fiercely for the limited financial support from the too few shoes and equipment companies. With the big boys from the pharmaceutical world coming on board fewer people with talent and determination would be denied the chance for glory because of the lack of funds.

Whenever the suggestion of legalising performance enhancing drugs is put forward the instinctive reaction is to throw up our hands in horror. Really the horror is the fact people are pointedly ignoring the evidence that many, if not the majority, of top elite sportsmen are chemically aided.

It is like the story of the dead elephant in a room and everyone is pretending that it is not there. Change, especially one which is so contrary to the status quo, is frightening. I wonder how long we can tolerate the smell of the dead elephant.

The writer can be contacted at desee@pc.jaring.my