Hubert Lawrence | Tough break for Williams

There’s nothing dishonest or complicated in the matter that assails young Briana Williams. With the most important athletics meet of her young career upon her, Williams fell ill at the National Senior Championships in June and, as almost all of us would, she reached for an over-the-counter remedy so she could function. With full respect for the rules of her sport, she declared the use of that remedy to the doping-­control authorities.

Those who paint with a broad brush when bad things happen had better hold their horses this time. This episode contains no intent to seek an illegal advantage, no intent to deceive, and none to conceal anything. Nada.

Her honesty is as obvious as her speed. Perhaps the answer lies with a contaminated product or one spoilt by bad storage. Whatever happened, it seems clear that the athlete and her connections had no intent to achieve high performance through fraudulent means.

It wouldn’t be the first time good people have been hurt by contamination. It still hurts to hear Asafa Powell called a ‘cheat’ because spoilt food supplements keyed a positive dope test some years ago. Few even know that the Powell/Sherone Simpson matter ended with their bans ­foreshortened and with the offending company settling with them ­out of court. It’s a tragedy.

All that is left is for their records to be cleansed by the relevant authorities.

The current episode shows how much scrutiny today’s athlete must entertain. While the rest of us can run to the neighbourhood pharmacy or gas station for relief from pain, colds and fever, the athlete literally must send those remedies to the lab before ingesting them. That’s so impractical that retired Jamaican hockey international Andrea Stephenson has recommended the creation of an approved list to guide athletes.

In that construct, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) would operate like an Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or Bureau of Standards, by approving medication athletes could safely use to dispense with those pesky annoyances. Should an approved medication cause a positive test, it would simply get struck off the approved list.

The affected manufacturer would have to reapply for approved status in favour of the offending tablet, ointment or medicine.

MAKING IT EASIER

The aim of Stephenson’s proposal is to make it easier for the good guys to stay clear of these ‘false’ positives, which damage the sport’s reputation.

Williams is young enough and more than good enough that in a long career, she could banish this sad moment. Consider Christine Ohuruougu, the 2008 Olympic 400m champion, who served a suspension for inadvertently missing three doping tests. The Briton admitted to carelessness as the reason for her violation of the so-called whereabouts rule and, when she returned to competition, she enjoyed worldwide popularity and left the sport with her ­reputation intact.

The circumstances of the ­current case, and the declaration of the use of the over-the-counter remedy, could lay the basis for Williams to emerge from all this trouble chastened but not charged. Processing time may cost her a hard-earned trip to Doha next month for the 17th World Championships. That would be sad, but if good sense prevails, she will leave with something far more important: her good name.

Cheats should be mercilessly chased away. Even so, there are cases where even those with broad brushes should accept that nothing dishonest was intended. Hopefully, this is how this case will pan out.

Hubert Lawrence is a sports analyst and commentator.