WHENEVER an athlete tests positive, whether it be the fourth member of a relay team from the smallest of nations or one of the world’s most iconic tennis players, my mind goes back to a 3.30am telephone call.
Maria Sharapova screaming with emotion at the US Open
On the end of the line, as planned, was Asafa Powell, the Jamaican sprinter who once held the 100m world record. USA night-time for him, bleary-eyed London morning for me, we chatted this way because a week earlier I had flown to Fort Lauderdale in Florida to interview him but he never turned up.
He was pleasance personified. He was very articulate too, particularly the bit about how athletes should go to jail if they are caught for doping. It was a story that made good headlines.
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Not, though, as many as when Powell himself fell foul of the testers five years later in 2013 and was banned for 18 months. Wonder what he felt about going to jail then?
I thought of that 3.30am call as we watched Maria Sharapova quietly tell the world that she had failed a drugs test and was not even going to bother with the B sample because she was bang to rights.
Express Sport