Dear Editor,

Champs turns 105 years old next week and has been the crucible from which Jamaica’s track prowess has developed. In the last 20 years the island’s dominance on the global athletics stage has taken on epic proportions, demonstrated in the fact that between 2009 and 2012 the roster of the world’s 12 fastest men included 10 Jamaicans. The fact that the fastest man and woman in the world are Jamaicans only underlines the significant stranglehold that Jamaica now has on global athletics, borne without question from a meet known by track and field aficionados simply as Champs.

No other meet anywhere in the world comes even remotely close in stature, support and importance. To young Jamaicans still ensconsed within our secondary school system, to coaches in every corner of island, to enthusiasts like myself who has followed the sport since 1969, track in Jamaica is a religion.

Today, the sport presents a tremendous opportunity for talented youngsters to create a space for themselves and for coaches and school administrators to cover themselves in the glory that Champs brings. Today, a young man or woman can make a career out of athletics, as with the billions of dollars now being thrown at the sport by corporate Jamaica as well as entities outside of the island, track and field in Jamaica is no longer a hobby.

We need to recognise that Jamaica ranks among the top most corrupt countries in the world, and that this reputation runs deep into the DNA of some of us. While I am not singling out any particular athlete nor school, I am not so naive that I am of the belief that the endemic corruption has skirted our athletics programme. Reputations are made, and in a lot of instances it can also be bought. Drug use in sport is not an accidental association, and I may remind the uninitiated that more than a passing number of our premier athletes have been found to have used performance-enhancing substances over the last 10 years. To believe that none of our beloved Champs athletes would ever use performance-enhancing substances is equivalent to purchasing a bridge.

We must test these athletes and should have been doing so for at least the last five years. To learn that ISSA will not be allowing at least random drug-testing is a huge disappointment and a grave error on the part of the administrators. For this sends a message to those who may be engaged in the practice that it is “business as usual”.

Richard Blackford

Florida, USA

richardhblackford@gmail.com