![]() ![]() World Athletics put out a statement saying unless the Russians apologise for the last transgression, they’re rescinding the possibility of their athletes competing in Tokyo. “They’re doing an outstanding battle in the fight against doping and hopefully the corrupt people are gone. The 64-year-old Moses seems energised by World Athletics. I negotiated agreements to test athletes and that was the first testing outside competition.” ![]() “There was no such thing as Wada and, in the US, I was chairman of the committee for the big six Olympic sports. I became the chief of US testing from 1989 to 1994. We got it ratified and the following year the US Olympic Committee adopted our programme. We got the money and legislation and drew up the drug programme from scratch because no one had ever done it. “ After Ben Johnson, I put together a group of 10 US athletes. Moses, who won bronze in the 400m hurdles at those Games, when he was 33 and competing in his final Olympics, felt an even sharper desire to clean up his sport. Serious questions, at the very least, have been raised over the other seven finalists. Photograph: Colorsport/ShutterstockĪthletics has never recovered from its loss of legitimacy in the aftermath of the dirtiest race in history, the 100m final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when Ben Johnson, the initial winner, failed a drug test. Moses crosses the line to win gold in the 400m hurdles at the LA Olympics in 1984. That’s why we have out-of-competition drug testing – because of what I and a few others did in 1988.” I could have done nothing and track and field would have been worse than it is today. I was winning anyway so there was nothing for me to gain. People who protest, and do the right thing, usually don’t have anything to gain. It’s finally changing now but I was one of the few who spoke out at the start. It was a dark period in my sport and it’s continued for a long time. “A few athletes spoke up but many made comments out of expediency. So there was unabated use of these drugs all over the world. There was no test for testosterone or growth hormones then. “Then, in the 1980s, more athletes used performance-enhancing drugs because out-of-competition testing did not exist. So I was shocked when I went to the 1976 Olympics and saw some of the eastern bloc women. ![]() I’ve got a biology and chemistry background. “We knew doping was wide scale because there was no drug testing – beyond being able to detect drugs for three or four days. “We all knew it was happening,” Moses says. This was not the template used by cheating athletes. But I also did it because I knew it would make me the best.” I did all kinds of innovative training exercises. “That’s why I worked out three times a day,” he says when asked if he felt the shadow of doping among his rivals even when he seemed invincible as an athlete. ![]()
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