To gain more support, athletics needs to ditch its doping culture

Athletics should be more popular than it is.

With a wide variety of disciplines across multiple codes, and some real characters dominating the sport, it is as spectator friendly as any other.

And while it probably does lead the way in terms of individual sports, numerous team codes are able to rake in more support from the public and corporate sponsors.

Of course, there must be various reasons for this, but one significant issue continues to stunt the sport’s growth, and it’s a topic few people really want to talk about: The athletes can’t be trusted.

That’s not to say everyone is cheating, which is certainly not the case. But no other sport has seen the fall of so many stars due to doping.

ALSO READ: Simon Magakwe banned for seven years for doping

Even cycling, notoriously tainted by revelations of widespread cheating during the Lance Armstrong saga, has been able to emerge cleaner from that ordeal.

In athletics, however, from Ben Johnson to Marion Jones to Blessing Okagbare, it has been a never-ending problem.

And, following the rapid rise of South African sprinting over the last decade, we would be naive to believe this country is immune.

Doping cases regularly shake the sport, both at home and abroad, and cheating remains an ongoing issue.

Fortunately, aside from long jumper Luvo Manyonga who was banned for recreational drug abuse, South Africa’s highest profile athletes (Olympic medallists and world record holders) have not joined the SA Institute for Drug Free Sport’s long list of suspended individuals in recent years.

ALSO READ: Rising sprint star Dlodlo banned for doping

There have been enough issues, however, that the sport continues to be questioned as much here as it is anywhere else.

Sprint prospect Thando Dlodlo is by no means South Africa’s top athlete, but he does have real potential and he is a member of the national relay squad, and his two-and-a-half year ban is another blemish on the sport.

On top of this, Dlodlo has done no favours to his teammates, who are now set to lose their gold medals after winning last year’s 4x100m final at the World Relays.

But as much as clean athletes are regularly hurt by cheats – including the loss of accolades, prize money and sponsorships – perhaps the worst thing about doping is what it does to damage the attraction of the sport.

Nobody wants to watch athletics if they don’t know who is cheating, and there will be no real trust between fans and competitors until something is done to clean up the sport.