Sprinter Had Already Made Fast Strides

According to Randy Harvey in his recent piece on Kelli White, “White

Because Kelli was ranked third and fourth in the world in the 200 meters in 2001 and 2002 (and 10th in the 100 in 2001), and a bronze medalist in the 2001 world championships in the 200, and on our gold-medal winning team in the 400 relay, I’m assuming that Mr. Harvey considers Marion Jones the only outstanding sprinter in the world.

I resent Mr. Harvey’s insinuation that Kelli’s performances are the result of drug use. I have no idea if she was anything but negligent in her not mentioning the use of an unbanned drug to the IAAF, but because of track and field’s commitment to stop drug use (unlike other sports), we continue to get bad press from writers such as Harvey.

When baseball outlaws steroids, and football, basketball, and hockey have actual drug tests that are open to the press, maybe people will begin to applaud track for its stand, instead of assuming that any “positive” test is somebody who cheated.

Bruce Thomson

Playa del Rey