We failed to shoot out a comment regarding Yelena Isinbayeva's Pole Vault record this week in Monaco but had to cover the massive Russian Doping Scandal that occurred.
Well, let me do so now, Isinbayeva inched the World Record for the Pole Vault another centimeter further to 5.04, this after her 5.03 WR in Roma . Isi missed the record in a meeting in Crystal Palace , London (UK) over the weekend but captured it on Tuesday.
One wonders whether if she had achieved the record in London whether she would have edged it to 5.05 in Monaco. This is exactly how Bubka used to do it and there were always mutterings that he was jumping the records in training and to a great extent I believe this is certainly what Isinbayeva must be capable of.
World Records equal ink space in newspapers as well as plenty of internet coverage these days and this is great promo for the event's sponsors.
That is until an athlete fails a drug test and then the sponsor becomes quite disgruntled at their company name being associated with the caught athlete. Tour De France is certainly feeling the backlash and in a way the cyclists feel it as well when there are less companies willing to sponsor the sport.
Something else we failed to mention was the doping scandal of the Netherlands' Simon Vroeman, who is the European Record Holder over 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 8:04.95, set in Brussels in August 2005. I will not forget the interview conducted by Sweden's Anders Gärderud who was a previous European record holder with a time of 8:08.2 which he achieved in 1976 and was the then World Record over the distance.
In the interview, I recall him asking Vroeman how come the big improvement to get the record and then to further improve on it. At the time Vroeman had shown a tremendous improvement and was over 30 years of age. To me, I got the feeling of the scepticism of the interviewer and this I will always remember.
So it came as no big surprise when it was mentioned that the Dutch athlete had failed a test by his own admission. However what was to follow it was the various mutterings of indiscretions that had originally led Vroeman to retire in 2007 and then he went against his retirement and returned on June 11, 2008, at the age of 39, to win a 3000m Steeple race in Cottbus in 8:12.50. This was the National Champs and it qualified him for Beijing, something the Dutch officials were not altogether happy about.
It is about time that officials stuck to their task of looking after our sport and that persons such as Vroeman et al are not allowed to pollute our sport further, the ongoing saga of Dwain Chambers is another example of a situation that officials should have dealt with a long time before it was allowed to grow into the mess it became.
The Russian drug bust was 9 months in its preparation (if we are to believe what has been mentioned elsewhere) and there are so many twists and turns that it would make for a good 'TV soapie'
However, I can say that dispite it being uncomfortable for the officials when someone is bust, we who love the sport appreciate them doing their job to erradicate the rot that has for too long been allowed to fester in the sport.
No one athlete is bigger than the sport, no Linford Christie, no Marion Jones and for Dutch athletics, no Robert Vroeman
To Beijing we go
TheEd
