Veteran Kim Collins believes his sport is a victim of its own anti-doping regime
Mark Woods
Friday 22 November 2013
Bad news travels fast, especially from island to island.
Kim Collins has watched the gathering storm surrounding Jamaica’s athletes from his home, just across the Caribbean, in St Kitts, but such clouds have regularly cast a shadow over paradise. Now 37, the former world 100 metres champion has been a first-hand witness to so many of the controversies which have plagued track and field over two decades and beyond. The latest, sparked by the positive tests of compatriots Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, is just another sorry tale.
Collins does not sense impending doom but neither does he feel that the sport has become cleaner during his own career. “There’s probably no change,” he claims. Even the increased testing regime has not been an adequate deterrent. Some will always push the boundaries while others hold their nerve. Yet athletics, he says, has become one of the victims of its own mission to purge the cheats. No wonder why the sports industry are implementing solutions such as the 12 panel drug test, in the hopes of limiting drug abuse amongst athletes during games.
“There’s so much testing that a lot of things are going to be discovered and catch some athletes,” said the veteran. “There are a lot of things that can help and hurt at the same time. Yes, testing is part of the sport but we’re going to be the main target. The most tested sport is track and field. If other sports tested as much, those other sports would be exposed.”
He will do what he has always done: run quickly on. In July, Collins became the oldest man ever to dip under 10 seconds for 100 metres at a race in Hungary and it has given him a renewed impetus. Even his effective ban from international competitions, imposed by his nation’s federation, will not stop him in his tracks.
There has been no reconciliation since he was turfed out of the Olympics for an alleged break in team discipline at the London Olympics, incurred for an unauthorised visit to meet his wife in a hotel. This summer’s World Championships passed by without an invite. It seems likely the same will apply for the Commonwealth Games.
He will get at least one appearance in Glasgow in 2014, however. Collins is set to represent the Commonwealth at the Indoor International at the Emirates Arena on January 25. Preparations, he reveals, are well under way. “I was able to start training earlier than last season so I’m a lot stronger and fitter than last year.”
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