Three days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Athens, Irish sport is coming to terms with another damaging incident involving an athlete testing positive for drugs. Any surprise that a relatively moderate distance runner could be caught cheating on the eve of the Games should be tempered by the knowledge that Cathal Lombard will almost certainly be one of many to attempt to hoodwink the public and outwit the testing procedures in the weeks ahead.
The use of banned substances to improve performances across a broad range of sport has become so commonplace that a certain weariness has replaced outrage when another positive test is revealed. High-profile athletes, swimmers, rugby players, soccer stars and cyclists have all risked their professional careers by using banned substances. Their actions have put their health in jeopardy and fundamentally undermined public trust in outstanding sporting achievements.
This corrosion of belief poses a far greater threat to sport than any other issue. Unlike many other areas of life, sport is rightly seen as a key factor in developing good habits through maintaining a healthy lifestyle, forging friendships and celebrating honest achievement. Nothing is more damaging to sport than the gradual erosion of these values. And nothing has done more to threaten these values than the use of drugs.
Cathal Lombard's actions and subsequent admission of guilt highlight the casual indifference of some athletes to their own wellbeing and their conduct as representatives of their clubs and country in national and international competition. Their quest for faster times and improved performances through the use of performance enhancing drugs is a complete betrayal of their chosen sport and merits the most severe of bans.
No doubt there will be other competitors and medal winners in Athens who will avoid detection and will attribute their success to smarter training methods and perfect preparation. This should not deter the anti-doping agencies and international sports bodies from pursuing them. The global fight against doping in sport will always be an uphill battle. But the vast majority of drug-free athletes, sports bodies and governments can play a small but important part in combating doping by exposing and condemning without equivocation those who seek to gain advantage through the use of drugs.
Not alone has Lombard let down himself and his country but he has cast a shadow over the rest of Ireland's Olympic team. They, as much as the public, deserved better from one of their own.