Sports analysts hailed the way Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain pranced to victory in the Women’s 400m as the most shocking result at last year’s IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Doha.
Call it jingoism or just common sense, but as a Bahamian, I found her upset victory over heavily favored Shaunae Miller-Uibo of The Bahamas far more suspicious than shocking.
In fact, I remarked at the time that I was seized with the same unease I experienced watching Ben Johnson of Canada upset heavily favored Carl Lewis of the USA in the Men’s 100m at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
Naturally, we soon learned that Johnson jet-fueled his way to victory on a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs. Sure enough, it seems Naser may have done so too:
Women’s 400-meter world champion Salwa Eid Naser was provisionally suspended Friday for not making herself available for doping tests.
The Athletics Integrity Unit said it has charged the sprinter from Bahrain with whereabouts violations.
Naser could miss next year’s Olympics if the case is proven.
(The Associated Press, June 5, 2020)
“If the case is proven”? WTF! Surely the consciousness of guilt inherent in ducking doping tests is proof enough. I mean, it’s not like she’s entitled to the same due process and standard of proof as that notorious killer of George Floyd …
Trust me, she will not show her face at the Olympics next year because:
- she will be officially suspended – as she should be; or
- even if she manages to dupe doping authorities this time, she would be too afraid to show up clean, knowing full well that Miller-Uibo would run her ass off the track in their rematch.
Like Johnson, Naser will have to forfeit the gold medal to the legitimate winner of her race, Miller-Uibo.
But, like Lewis, after suffering the agony of defeat on the world stage, where does Miller-Uibo go to recapture that moment … to taste the thrill of victory Naser stole, which is now forever lost?
Related championships:
Doha championships…