Marion Jones’ “B” Sample Clears Her of Doping Charges

Marion Jones is probably the finest female sprinter in the world. Five world championships and five Olympic gold medals in Sydney are clear indications that, if she isn’t the best, she’s awfully close. The question is whether she got that way by using performance enhancing substances. She tested positive for Erythropoietin [EPO] in June, but her “B” sample back-up test suggests that was a false positive. Her case just shows that the doping witch hunt in sports needs to be reined in.

Ms. Jones has a big target on her chest for a few reasons. First, she is a superstar in track, and nothing makes reporters happier than playing Woodward and Berstein, even in athletics. Second, C.J. Hunter (her ex-husband) and Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative [BALCO] founder Victor Conte have accused her of using banned substances, and BALCO is at the heart of the baseball steroid scandal. She’s even testified before the grand jury in the case. Third, Trevor Graham (her ex-coach) has links to other athletes with bad test results, like Justin Gatlin, who’s looking at an eight-year ban for testing positive for testosterone or other steroids.

In most sports drug testing, there is a sample of urine or blood taken, and the first test on a part of the fluid is known as the “A” sample. The result is almost always a negative because most athletes are clean (and a few are clever). When a positive test on the “A” sample comes back, the authorities run the test again on another part of the sample, called the “B” sample. When the “B” comes back positive, as it did with Floyd Landis of Tour de France fame, it's almost irrefutable proof that the substance is in the athlete’s body. When it comes back negative, it is almost always a sign that some lab tech didn’t do the test correctly.

In theory, a positive “A” isn’t supposed to be leaked to the press until the “B” sample test results come in. Leaks are commonplace, though, and the sports governing bodies have done little to halt the practice – indeed, the fear it strikes in athletes serves the purpose of the authorities in ensuring control of the practice. At least, that is, until now. Now, they look like the Keystone Kops for having more or less proved that Ms. Jones, despite all the gossip, is clean while simultaneously proving their tests are flawed.

Banning performance enhancing substances from athletics has been as unsuccessful as banning drugs from society in general. There are always a few who will take them for whatever pretexts they can talk themselves into believing. A better solution is simply to be open about it. No bans, no fines, but every test result should be posted on the internet. If an athlete and his or her sponsors are comfortable with a reputation as a doper, so be it. It’s hard to see Nike or Adidas paying to be known as the Shoe of Steroid Users. Social pressure is vastly more effective than anything else – after all, if peer pressure can get people to use drugs, peer pressure can stop it.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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