EDITORIAL - Repairing the brand and our psyche

Karl Samuda, the opposition MP, with great clarity, summed up the impact of the recent spate of positive drug tests for leading Jamaican athletes on the global brand. The observation applies, too, to our collective psyche.

"What has happened," Mr Samuda told his parliamentary colleagues, "is that the previously infallible nature of our athletics prowess has been assaulted.

"That pride, that certain knowledge that we are the best, has been damaged; and if you damage that, which is essential to our country, you damage the brand," he said.

The issue now is how Jamaica goes about repairing the brand and national self-esteem. The process must start not with hubris, or resorting, as some are wont to do, to conspiracy theories.

We should, even as we sympathise with the affected athletes, conduct a sober but rigorously truthful assessment of what may have gone wrong and what is required to fix any shortcomings. The chips should be allowed to fall where they may.

Yet, we must remind ourselves, and the world, of the foundation upon which Jamaica's athletics prowess is built and the genealogy from which the Bolts and Fraser-Pryces of today descended.

The exploits of Wint and McKinley et al at the London Olympics, are, in this context, relevant. So, too, is the more than 100-year-old high-school athletics championships, like which there can be few in the world for the intensity of the competition and the fervour with which it is followed. And there are the many other school competitions that feed into Champs.

Maintaining the integrity of this evolutionary feeder tree is important, thus the importance of the initiatives proposed by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, which this newspaper supports.

Among these is the plan for a robust education programme in schools, and the wider community, about the dangers and consequences of doping in track and field athletics and other sports. Further, the subject will become part of the curriculum of the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education. Mistakes will happen, but a programme such as this should lessen the instances in which athletes, at whatever level, can claim ignorance, or naivety, for their ingestion of substances banned by the global anti-doping body.

protocols to be established

More critical is the proposed testing of high-school athletes, protocols for which are to be established between the Government, parents and schools.

The performance of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) is relevant. Mrs Simpson Miller insists that JADCO has a rigorous programme of testing, evidenced by the recent findings against Jamaican athletes.

We do not question this assertion. Most Jamaicans want to believe in the agency, given the sniping of those, externally, who seek to assault "the previously infallible nature of our athletics prowess".

Our problem with JADCO is the absence of transparency. It asserts and expects people to accept.

A month ago, this newspaper argued that JADCO would do itself greater justice by revealing data on its testing programme, including how often it tested athletes in its jurisdiction and the comparison between its efforts and those of other anti-doping agencies. It has done nothing.

That JADCO operates in a poor country and exists on a limited budget is appreciated. But being secretive about its activities only plays into the hands of those who mean Jamaica no good.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.