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Sprinter Leaves Humiliation Behind
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
LaShawn Merritt crossing the finish line to win the gold medal in the men's 400-meter final at the Beijing Games in 2008. He finished in 43.75 seconds, winning by nearly a second.
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Published: December 19, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. — Having done the heavy lifting to restore his career and his reputation, LaShawn Merritt, the reigning Olympic sprint champion at 400 meters, came to the gym to burnish his abdominal muscles.
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He pulled down a bar above his head as if settling into a roller-coaster ride, placed his arms into straps and explosively lifted his legs, then reclined on a bench and tossed a 16-pound medicine ball, his lean torso whipping forward like a catapult.
“LaShawn, I’ve never seen you work so hard,” a friend called out on a recent afternoon. “I’m going to have to call 9-1-1.”
The friend was kidding. Merritt’s career emergency was finally over. At 25, he has a resuscitated his opportunity to compete at the 2012 London Games, having resolved a case of accidental doping seldom seen in elite sport, one that involved sexual-enhancement pills and the exculpatory assistance of a 7-Eleven clerk.
So many florid excuses have been given by athletes claiming to have unintentionally taken banned substances that enhance performance. The toothpaste was spiked. The wedding cake was sabotaged. The suspicious blood was provided by a “vanished” twin who died in utero. All these excuses were roundly dismissed as purposeful cheating.
But what happens when an athlete ingests a prohibited substance and it was truly inadvertent? And he can prove it to the satisfaction of antidoping officials? And he is willing to tell the truth about what he took, even if his admission causes his private life to be made public and subjects him to embarrassment and ridicule?
This is what happened to LaShawn Merritt. Three times from October 2009 to January 2010, he tested positive for steroid derivatives called DHEA and pregnenolone.
Except — and this is a big exception — the substances were not intended to enhance athletic performance. They were contained instead in a male-enhancement product called ExtenZe, bought over the counter from a convenience store.
Full Hundred
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/sp...d.html?_r=1&hp
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
LaShawn Merritt crossing the finish line to win the gold medal in the men's 400-meter final at the Beijing Games in 2008. He finished in 43.75 seconds, winning by nearly a second.
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Published: December 19, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. — Having done the heavy lifting to restore his career and his reputation, LaShawn Merritt, the reigning Olympic sprint champion at 400 meters, came to the gym to burnish his abdominal muscles.
Related
He pulled down a bar above his head as if settling into a roller-coaster ride, placed his arms into straps and explosively lifted his legs, then reclined on a bench and tossed a 16-pound medicine ball, his lean torso whipping forward like a catapult.
“LaShawn, I’ve never seen you work so hard,” a friend called out on a recent afternoon. “I’m going to have to call 9-1-1.”
The friend was kidding. Merritt’s career emergency was finally over. At 25, he has a resuscitated his opportunity to compete at the 2012 London Games, having resolved a case of accidental doping seldom seen in elite sport, one that involved sexual-enhancement pills and the exculpatory assistance of a 7-Eleven clerk.
So many florid excuses have been given by athletes claiming to have unintentionally taken banned substances that enhance performance. The toothpaste was spiked. The wedding cake was sabotaged. The suspicious blood was provided by a “vanished” twin who died in utero. All these excuses were roundly dismissed as purposeful cheating.
But what happens when an athlete ingests a prohibited substance and it was truly inadvertent? And he can prove it to the satisfaction of antidoping officials? And he is willing to tell the truth about what he took, even if his admission causes his private life to be made public and subjects him to embarrassment and ridicule?
This is what happened to LaShawn Merritt. Three times from October 2009 to January 2010, he tested positive for steroid derivatives called DHEA and pregnenolone.
Except — and this is a big exception — the substances were not intended to enhance athletic performance. They were contained instead in a male-enhancement product called ExtenZe, bought over the counter from a convenience store.
Full Hundred
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/sp...d.html?_r=1&hp
