According to new reports coming out of Europe, a number of major sports organizations want to eliminate all global world records for their respective sports and reinstate only global world records created by athletes that have conclusively proven not to have taken performance-enhancing drugs at any point in time throughout their career.
This radical new proposal is on the fringe of most major sports organizations right now, but support is building on all sides. Fans and spectators of favorite sports stand in staunch opposition of this proposal for a variety of different reasons, and athletes in particular aren’t at all that excited about the potential ramifications it may create throughout the sporting communities of the world.
What exactly is this new proposal?
The new proposal is pretty simple and straightforward.
Essentially, all European world records in sports will be eliminated completely and “reset”, with athletes setting world records having to conclusively prove that they did not use performance-enhancing drugs when they established the record but also leaving behind samples that can be tested at least 10 years in the future to double verify that performance-enhancing drugs were not used.
On top of that, this new proposal wants to eliminate any world records from any athlete that pops positive for performance-enhancing drugs at any point in time throughout their career. This includes any athlete that established a world record in the early stages of their career and then pops positive for any performance-enhancing drug at the tail end, regardless of how much time has eclipsed between both events.
What kind of impact will this proposal have on sports all of the world?
Well, for starters, the entire European record book in almost all major sports (and that’s just the beginning) would be completely and totally reset from top to bottom.
Those that currently hold world records and are active athletes would need to submit to performance-enhancing drug testing immediately, and they would have to agree to have the samples that are taken from them stored for at least 10 years until more advanced testing protocols can be discovered and innovated.
From there, any new world record established will trigger significant anti-doping testing protocols to be started with the athlete that achieved the world record in the first place. Samples will be taken from that athlete periodically, stored for at least 10 years individually, and the athlete will continue to be tested throughout the rest of their lives to remain eligible for holding the world record.
Any test that is positive for performance-enhancing drugs will result in a forfeiture of the world record, regardless of whether or not the athlete was “clean” when they competed and established the record in the first place.
Is there opposition to this proposal?
Well, understandably, athletes all over the world are not at all excited about the potential for this proposal to move forward.
They understand that there is plenty of potential for abuse in this kind of PED scheme, but also recognize that it’s impossible to test past world record holders that may no longer be active or may be deceased – invalidating the world records that these incredible athletes established just because the testing protocols weren’t available.
Stands and spectators of these sports also aren’t crazy about the proposal, either. It would essentially reboot the history of these sports completely, subject world records to questioning and innuendo as long as the world record holder remained alive and continue to be tested, and would generally wreak havoc throughout the world of sport from top to bottom.
It will definitely be interesting to see how everything shakes out moving forward and how much more difficult it is to obtain athletic track and field world records.
