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Yegerova the Top
athletics tainted - by institutional racism

What has Chris Morris done?. Thanks to 'Brass Eye', the most spot-on attack on the media ever aired, I find it increasingly impossible to maintain a straight face when 'serious' broadcasters tackle 'serious' subjects. Such was the case in Edmonton during the World Athletics Championships when the whole world seemed to gang up on Olga Yegerova.

Yegerova had failed a drugs test for the banned protein hormone Erythropoietin, more popularly known as EPO after a Grand Prix event in Paris. She was at first banned from competing in Edmonton, but this ban was lifted after it was found that the correct procedures had not been followed and a subsequent test cleared the Russian of EPO abuse. The first to react was the Romanian Gaby Szabo, who announced she would boycott the 5000 metres event if Yegerova ran.

Maybe Yegerova should have withdrawn herself from the event, but she didn't, prompting the British athletes Paula Radcliffe & Hayley Tullet to appear in the stadium holding a placard with 'EPO drug cheats out' scrawled on it. Paula would be better off protesting at the athletes who repeatedly sit on her shoulder while she runs her long socks off then belt past her on the last lap to pinch all the medals.

Yegerova ran in the 5000 metres and won by a fair distance. Szabo trailed in back in 8th place & promptly called Yegerova a robot. The sight of the Russian fleeing from the track, with only the Ethiopian bronze medal winner Worko offering any comfort as a few spectators jeered was heartbreaking - especially as she very well could be innocent.

The media loves a new phrase & EPO was on everyones lips, but what on earth is it & what does it do?. Unlike drugs like Anabolic Steroids & human growth hormone (HGH) which increase muscle mass & strength, EPO can increase the number of red cells in the bloodstream thus increasing the amount of oxygen in body tissues. Contrary to some information it IS produced naturally in the kidneys in low oxygen conditions.

Artificial EPO was originally developed for medical use such as with people suffering from HIV, but soon it's benefits to endurance athletes were noticed. Until recently it was very difficult to detect, but before the Olympic games in Sydney, two tests were independently developed in France & Australia. One requires a urine sample, the other needs blood from the athlete. Both these methods are used in tandem by the authorities.

The reason both tests should be administered is that on their own, even the scientists who created them admitted the test results could be suspect. The 'technicality' which allowed Yegerova into the games was the fact both of these tests had not been correctly done. One of the tests assumes the athlete has been taking EPO if high levels of red cells are present in the blood. I'm no scientist, but there could be other explanations for this occurrence other than drug use.

The manipulation of the events continued when commentators on both the BBC & Eurosport said the crowd were booing Yegerova. I watched this coverage, and though some shouting can be heard, the bulk of the crowd are applauding. To be honest, the constant mentions of Yegerova seemed to be used by the commentators as a 'masking agent' to draw attention away from the lack of British success in Edmonton.

Inspired by the bitter Szabo, who was probably annoyed at how much money she had lost this season due to being repeatedly thrashed by Yegerova, the commentators branded the Russian, who speaks no English a cheat. Glum faced athletes like Brendan Foster, Katherine Merry & Sally Gunnell carped endlessly about 'the image of athletics being permanently damaged' after she won Gold. However I remember similar wailing when Ben Johnson was uncovered as a drug user in 1988.

They firstly should take a look at the sports pages. The Observer has picture of Gail Devers' bottom & fingernails on the front page, and in the rest of the papers athletics barely gets a mention. The Sunday People for a example devoted 17 pages to football, 2 pages of horse racing results and 1 page of athletics, even though the world championships are in full swing.

Like many other sports, Athletics languishes in the long shadow thrown by the round ball.
Foster & Gunnell, BBC stalwarts for many years have failed to notice that outside the confines of the BBC, where athletics is one of the few sports not to have been siezed by independent TV & Satellite, the profile of athletics is fairly low. Katherine Merry on Eurosport said that the media were really interested in the story. The truth is they aren't. Now if it happened in football that would make a splash.

Shortly after the disqualification of Ben Johnson in the Seoul Olympics, Linford Christie made the point that no amount of drugs could transform an average athlete into a champion. They way the likes of Brendan Foster have been talking, the uninitiated could easily believe that anyone could inject a course of steroids and some EPO and suddenly be a world beating athlete.

It is now fairly accepted that from the 1950's to the 1980's, athletes from the Soviet bloc were using drugs to boost performance. Yet they didn't win all the medals & and all the championships. Athletes like Steve Cram were able to beat drug cheats repeatedly, so why is he and other members of TV panels perpetuating the myth that drugs are a sure fire way of gaining success?.

Drugs may create some physical benefits, but they don't enhance tactical awareness, or the strength of mind needed for top level competition. Look at the way on several occasions Linford Christie seemed to will himself to beat younger men who on paper were much faster. What Christie posessed can't be injected, snorted or swallowed and it is that spirit which creates champions, not drugs.

The peddlers of illegal substances all over the world must be rubbing their hands together with glee at the tremendous publicity sports commentators have given EPO.

Surely it would be better to tell the truth - drugs might improve performance, but they will not turn a mediocre athlete into a champion. What they definitely will do however is ruin your health. EPO increases risks of heart attacks and the adverse affects of steroids are well documented. Florence Griffith Joyner who won gold at the same Olympics Ben Johnson was disgraced at, died at the age of 38. Several athletes have now alleged she was using performance enhancing drugs, but being an American, a blind eye was turned & a veil of secrecy still surrounds her rather incredible world records, which even the powerful Marion Jones can't get near.

The whole Yegerova case is one of institutional racism. In the past, the eastern bloc athletes have used drugs, but it's wrong to instantly brand someone a cheat when the testing procedures are so suspect. The British athlete Diane Modahl was banned for alleged drug abuse, when it seemed she was the victim faulty testing. The media didn't in her case simply assume that the authorities were right, and if Yegerova was British the media reaction would have been supportive not aggressive. How would we Britons feel if people in the stadium greeted Mark Richardson ( who had been banned for alleged drug use) with "Drug Cheats Out" banners.

Much has been made of the improvements in Yegerova's performances recently, but this does happen, and it can be the result of a change of training habits and focus - look at Katherine Merry. Not so long ago she was a fairly pedestrian athlete in world terms. Now, under the wing of Linford Christie she is one of the world's best. Surely she more than anyone could understand Yegerova's progress.

A rather distasteful postscript to the story was the medal ceremony where the Ethiopian Worko didn't appear. This was odd considering she was the only athlete to show the ostracised Russian any sympathy after the race. It transpired she is in the same athletic stable as the whingeing Gaby Szabo & was probably bullied into staying away.

Maybe she is guilty of taking drugs during the Grand Prix, but no stories of her failing drug tests at Edmonton have emerged. EPO use, unlike steroids & HGH does not produce any lasting changes in physique or increases in physical strength. She won her medals without drugs & should be allowed to hold her head high. The fact she was able to win convincingly despte all the Szabo inspired hysteria demostrates clearly she has the natural physical ability & mental toughness all true champions posess.

Olga set to get amazingly litigious
Johnathan Edwards, Briain's most successful performer in recent years has criticised the way his fellow athletes have treated Olga Yegerova, stating that reactions would have been different if Yegerova was British.
The American Marion Jones (who took her defeat in the 100m in Edmonton with the kind of grace Gaby Szabo should note) also refused to condemn the Russian, who was given the warm reception she deserved when returning home after her win at Edmonton. Yegerova has gone on to win the 5000m at the Berlin Golden League meeting , missing a new world record by just over a second, but interestingly, Paula Radcliffe, one of her main detractors finished third in a time which took 11 seconds off her own personal best. Despite all the talk in the media of Yegerova's 'drug induced' improvements, nobody in Britain (myself included) would dream of accusing Radcliffe of any underhand behaviour.

Like Eric Manchester & everyone else in 'The Rutles', Gaby Szabo could now be facing legal action!.
The Russian Athletics Federation are considering suing her over the comments she made about Yegerova during the world championships. Yegerova's case has been strengthened by the admission by the French lab which processed the failed drug test that her sample could have been sabotaged.

It's typical of an increasingly money obsessed East that nobody from the Federation seemed to be around to protect Yegerova during the competition. However now there's a chance of making some money, they are now keen to clear her name as well as Szabo's bank account. Szabo has become a wealthy woman due to her many victories in Grand prix athletics events. Paula Radcliffe however could be bankrupted if Yegerova decides to sue her as well.

Despite these developments, the BBC website (www.bbc.co.uk) seems to be still using language which supports the idea of Yegrova's guilt. Articles refer to her escaping a drugs ban by a 'technicality' and in another they state she 'exploited a loophole'. Maybe a the Russian Athletics federation should consider suing the BBC too!

Andrew Morton