Staff writer - Nyasha Watson
Jamaica’s track and field athlete Steve Mullings has been found guilty of taking performance enhancement drugs. And he has subsequently been banned from the sport indefinitely. Some persons in the sporting fraternity are arguing that it is not fair for him to get such a harsh punishment, because the drug that was tested positive in his system was mild. However, I beg to differ.
Anyone who is familiar with Steve’s career would know that this is his second doping violation. In 2004, he tested positive for testosterone and was consequently banned for two years. I am thinking that would have been a learning experience for him, but apparently he did not learn.
Well, the IAAF stipulates that any athlete found guilty of a drug offence on a second occasion should be banned from the sport for eight years at the minimum and for life at the maximum. Thus in accordance with the international rules, I think his punishment is fair.
We in the Caribbean are very critical of athletes; especially North American athletes who use performance enhancement drugs. Thus, why should we be any less critical of our own athletes who use drugs to enhance their performance? We should unambiguously promote clean and fair competition; we should not lower our standards for anything less.
In the last Olympics and last two World Championships, Caribbean Athletes 
especially those from Jamaica have been dominating the sprints. In the process loosening the control that North American athletes had once held over those events.
Thus we have become the center of attention; which translates to mean the center of suspicion. So the athletes knew that they were being watched so they should have been more careful with the substances that they put in their bodies.
This positive test by Steve Mullings is not only embarrassing but he is also in a sense proving to the rest of the world that they were correct to have been suspicious of our athletes.
Therefore, we cannot and should not defend his action in any way or form. Nonetheless, we must not desert him because he was representing us. We all celebrated in his success. But, he made a mistake and he has to now live with the consequences.
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