Background
Solomon Wariso, The Guardian Unlimited Sport
Thursday September 4, 2003
The news that Kelli White of the United States failed a drug test at the world championships was greeted with knowing looks from certain quarters, not just from the world's press but from the spectators, such was her margin of victory in the 100 metres final. Modafinil, the drug found in her system, was allegedly used to combat the narcolepsy she says is inherent in her family. If so she is the fastest narcoleptic I have ever seen.
But the decision not to ban her but instead issue her a warning and strip her of her medals and prize money illustrates what a grey area the issue of drugs in sport has become. In 1994 I had been competing quite a lot on the grand prix circuit as a 200m runner. Feeling particularly run down for a couple of days, and with a big meeting in front of a home crowd in Gateshead looming, I came across a herbal supplement called Up Your Gas that purported to help alleviate tiredness. Flicking quickly through the ingredients, the only thing that looked unfamiliar alongside the likes of cayenne pepper and kola nut was "ma huang". Having never heard of it, I thought nothing of it and took a couple of tablets an hour before the race.
That was at a time before the internet was widely used, when athletes were not as paranoid about herbal supplements as they are today. As we are now all too aware of, thanks to my case, ma huang is the plant from which ephedrine is derived.
Nowadays every dodgy chemical or herb on the market is only a search engine away from having its entire history and chemical makeup uncovered. That is why there is perhaps more than meets the eye to Kelli White's story. By logging on and tapping modafinil into a search engine, you can see warnings that the substance is not to be used if you compete in events where drug testing is likely.
The IAAF's decision to strip her of her medals and publicly warn her means it has decided modafinil is probably in the same chemical family as ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine. One only receives a ban for ephedrine now for a second and third offence. By placing modafinil in that category, the IAAF may have sidestepped a bullet. It allows it to legitimately avoid banning White. If it couldn't do that, and decided not to ban her, athletes who have been banned in the past for other offences might have had grounds to contest those decisions.
It could also be that, with White being an American, the IAAF knows that months of litigation were sure to follow if it tried to ban her. Only lawyers would have benefited then.
During my hearing the head of the panel of judges, the late Sir Arthur Gold, told me that, regardless of how the substance got into my body, it was my responsibility. He may not have actually come out and said it, but I and my team got the distinct impression that, once you go into a drugs hearing, you are guilty until proven innocent.
Ever since Butch Reynolds disputed the results of his positive readings back in the early 90s and won a $20m settlement in the US Supreme Court against the IAAF - a sum he never received because the IAAF doesn't fall under the Supreme Court's jurisdiction - there has been the feeling in athletics that USA Track and Field has been reluctant to ban its athletes for fear of being bankrupted.
When word broke that there were several US athletes competing in the Sydney Olympics who had failed drug tests, people weren't surprised. Jerome Young, a man I competed against several times as a 400m runner in 98 and 99, was last week exposed as having won a gold medal there and the International Olympic Committee is now demanding hard answers from the USOC. But the US administration has form in turning a blind eye - it emerged recently that many American athletes in the 1988 Seoul Olympics had failed drugs tests a few months before their trials.
Marion Jones herself had an irregular drug test result at the age of 15 and hired Johnny Cochrane, a family friend, to defend her against the charge.
To this roll call you can add the name of Dennis Mitchell, whose massive readings of testosterone were put down to a night of heavy boozing and sex. His federation cleared him to compete until he was slapped down and banned by the IAAF. And these are just the ones we know about.
Kelli White was also banned from France last year after banned corticosteroids were found in her urine sample, so failing drug tests is not new to her.
It should therefore be no surprise that athletes the world over look at the Americans with distrust and suspicion, because it seems that it is one rule for them, another for the rest of us.
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Solomon Wariso is a former British international at 200m and 400m.