CLEAN? - DIRTY?
In today's Washington Post, noted journalist Michael Wilbon raises the question of whether or not Usain Bolt's magnificent accomplishments are, could be tainted by drugs? Since many of you reading this are still in high school it seems some comments from an old coach are in order.
We live in an increasingly cynical society. In the sports pages of every newspaper, there are stories of cheats, scoundrels, liars, frauds and every other sort of loser. Heck, it's not just the sports pages; it's throughout the entire paper. I watch the evening news and the same sort of story heads the comments. Whom can we trust? Government is saddled with cheating husbands, commerce gives us the likes of Bernie Madoff, the entertainment industry thrives on unwed couples turning out numerous offspring and sports seems to be the worst of the bunch.
When the Marion Jones story broke I wrote a column of how hurt I was. I write the first major story about Jones for Runner's World magazine when she was in the 9th grade. As one of the Meet Directors of the two national championship competitions I saw her grow up into an unsurpassed Olympic star. To see her disgraced and toppled, sent to prison - she was nothing more than a cheat and a fraud. I remember her as an awesomely talented young girl with a million dollar smile.
And there were more. Many more…too many more.
As a result, you may become a cynic and believe there are no good people within sports. That track and field is nothing more than a nest of druggies. STOP!
Yes, our sport has had its problems. But don't think for a minute every outstanding athletic accomplishment is infected. Not should you think this current wave of drug is the first time individual achievements have been questioned. I can recall when African-Americans dominated the high jump, there were storied written how the only way they could surpass the rest of the world was due to an extra tendon in their heel giving them an unfair advantage. Don't laugh…lots of people believed it.
Don't believe all those who tell you the young Jamaican must be using drugs. Many still question the great accomplishments of the late Florence Griffin-Joyner who ran 10.49. How many skeptics did I hear say, "If she ran that fast, she MUST have been on drugs." They said it as if they has seen her injecting herself, seen her swallowing pills, been present when she did…something. The fact that she passed numerous drug tests made no difference to some, if she was that good; she had to have done something. Well, I knew Flo-Jo. I knew her before and after her 10.49. She was the same person both times. The same body, the same personality, the same wonderfully friendly woman she'd always been. So what happened? Simple. On that day, that race, all her training, all her mental and psychological preparation, EVERYTHING came together. She had a great start, ran a perfect race and became the target of every skeptic in the world. Rather than accept her achievement as something wondrous, they turned it into something suspicious, something dirty. How wrong they were. And how wrong they are now.
Let the old coach tell you about Usain Bolt's 9.58. First, remember that none of we coaches, myself included, believed a man as tall as Bolt could have a good enough start to run a great 100m. Even his present coach felt he wasn't going to be able to run a great 100m. Bolt had to insist upon running the race and the coach reluctantly agreed. Bolt has a very good start. Watch closely. He's good.
One of the greatest sprint coaches of all time, the late Bud Winter of San Jose State back in the 1960's wrote a little pamphlet about sprinting. His major contention was to run fast you HAD TO LENGHTEN YOUR STRIDE. He pointed out the long strides of the great sprinters of the day and showed how they had to work less in order to run faster. For years, that pamphlet was my bible.
Bolt gets out of the blocks pretty much the same as most sprinters. He's in the mix at 30m, then his gigantic stride comes into play and he seemingly moves away from the field. I coached a young woman who had the same advantage, Sarah Bowman of Tennessee. Then my fellow coaches learned I would be working with her, most of them told me she was over striding and if I shortened her stride she'd do better. But I stuck with Coach Winter. I knew if an athlete took 40 strides to run a 100m sprint while another of equal ability took 43, the 40 stride guy would win every time.
So don't question Bolt, be more like him. You'll enjoy the sport more and you'll run faster. Good luck!
You can contact Mike Byrnes at fmbyrnes@aol.com
