Ian O'Riordan On Athletics:All this US election coverage takes me back to 1992, my sophomore year at Brown University. In between classes, and running, a group of us living in a five-storey house off campus spent hours debating the merits of George Bush snr, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot, who was obsessed with deficit-reduction.
We had it all worked out, that Clinton had to win. This, after all, was the Ivy League, the cream of higher education - though some say "as in rich, and thick". I wasn't rich and hopefully wasn't thick but somehow fitted in, and carry a great fondness for those years. Like the line from Bob Dylan's Dream, "We longed for nothing and were quite satisfied, talkin' and a-jokin' about the world outside."
Running, however, was always the priority, and this time of year also takes me back to the Heptagonal Indoor Championships - commonly known as the Heps - where we faced off against the other seven Ivy League colleges. Competition was intense, though hardly the most daunting, and typically ended with us all getting along at some post-Heps party. Most of those old acquaintances are long forgotten, although every so often I come across one, such as Weldon Johnson. He ran for Yale University the same time I ran for Brown, and as far as I can recall never beat me. Johnson, however, could run circles around me when it came to politics. His father, Clay Johnson III, was the old fraternity brother of George Bush jnr, and followed him all the way to the White House.
Johnson hasn't gone into politics, not yet, remaining largely devoted to running. Eight years ago, along with his twin brother, Robert, he founded the website letsrun.com, which is now practically required reading for running enthusiasts all over the world. It's not just an accumulation of daily news stories; the message board - billed as "world famous" - is an inexhaustible source of insights and commentary.
It was reading letsrun's message board earlier this week I discovered Cathal Lombard was back racing. Lombard, you may recall, rocked Irish athletics in 2004 when he tested positive for the endurance-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO), just two weeks before he was due to run the 5,000 metres at the Athens Olympics. It followed a ridiculously swift rise from mediocrity to excellence, and those who watched his career a little closer always doubted his legitimacy.
Lombard denied any drug use, including to me, face to face, when I met him. In fact, he was ordering EPO on the internet, and injecting himself with regular doses. It was only after the Irish Sports Council intercepted an order that their sting operation busted him.
Realising he had no escape, Lombard admitted using EPO, initially suggesting it was to have an equal chance with everyone else though later stating Irish athletics "is generally a clean sport".
Incredibly, this seemed to win the Cork athlete some sympathy, yet for those most loyal to the sport, his subsequent two-year ban didn't go far enough.
Anyway, last Sunday, Lombard ran a decent 24:46 in a five-mile road race in England, and is apparently training for a marathon. When this result appeared on letsrun it sparked a lengthy series of responses, but unlike the Democratic race in the current US election, opinions on Lombard aren't quite running neck and neck.
There are those who say he served his time and deserves his second chance. Yet most people seem to think otherwise, that Lombard's remorse was staged, that he was well funded while resorting to drug use, and would have lived happily ever after as an Irish Olympian had he not been caught. I too question Lombard's remorse, mainly because I met him a few months after he was caught, and offered a casual "how's it going?" - to which he replied: "I didn't like what you wrote about me," before turning his back. Lombard has done little to make amends, whether that be to advocate drug-free sport, or talk about his mistake. Instead he seemed to think he could walk back into the sport, and we'd all welcome him with open arms.
The reality is Lombard cheated a lot more people than just himself. Three years ago I wrote a book with Catherina McKiernan, whose former coach Joe Doonan had since taken over Lombard's coaching - unaware of his illicit drug use. Unfortunately, a whole chapter on McKiernan's disgust with Lombard was cut out for "legal reasons". Some of that missing chapter included her reaction to the news: "It really hit me . . . Suddenly I was shaking, and this horrible, sick feeling came over me. Nothing that had ever happened in my running had left me feeling this sick." And her enduring anger at his actions: "The worst part of it was the damage Lombard did to Irish athletics. I don't think he was even nearly lambasted enough."
If this were 16 years ago and I were back in that house off campus, and it was Lombard we were debating I've no doubt what we would have concluded. Lombard has no place in our sport.
