Drug Cheats Have Tarnished The London Marathon

Jo Pavey believes drug cheats have tarnished the London Marathon and she has had enough

And Jo Pavey has had enough: 'I just hate what is going on in the sport'

●Jo Pavey speaks to Sportsmail exclusively about what is happening in the sport  ●Pavey will be on the elite start line this Sunday for the 37th London Marathon ●She is also something of an antidote to the sport's current image crisis  

For Jo Pavey, the worst part was not feeling surprised. She's used to the announcements now, desensitised in ways she wishes she wasn't.

Sport Mail Online UK report continues:

The latest revelation came a fortnight ago — Kenya's Jemima Sumgong, the reigning champion of the London Marathon and winner of gold at the Rio Olympics, tested positive for EPO. 

If her B sample stays the same, she will be the second female London Marathon winner in seven years to lose her title to doping offences. Another Kenyan to add to all the Russians and the over- powering stench lurking over international athletics.

'Horrible,' Pavey tells Sportsmail. 'I just hate to think what is going on in the sport. Hate it, I really do. And yet you don't even feel surprised anymore and that is weird in itself, isn't it? It's appalling when you hear about it. It is just such a bad impression of a great sport.'

Pavey will be on the elite start line this Sunday for the 37th running of the 26-mile race and she, more than most, has justifiable cause to bemoan the consequences of doping. She has lost one podium moment to cheats and suspects there are more.

But she's also something of an antidote to the sport's image crisis, given she continues to make the remarkable seem so ordinary. Take this marathon, for instance, which serves as a gateway to a spot at the World Championships in London this August.

She'll be a month shy of her 44th birthday by then and should she qualify, she will have represented Great Britain at world level from 1,500m to the marathon.

'People ask when I will stop but the thought never crosses my mind,' she says. 'If I am still in shape to try for the Tokyo Olympics (in 2020) who knows? I haven't ruled it out.'

That would mean a sixth Olympics and would add to a CV that shows her to be the oldest European champion in athletics history, having taken gold in 2014's 10,000m.

Factor in a home life that has seen her labelled a 'super mum' — a legacy of winning European gold 11 months after giving birth to the second of her two children. 'I find myself at the track three hours later than planned and doing strength and conditioning at home,' she says.

'Somehow it all gets done, whether that is running with an adapted buggy or exercising at home surrounded by laundry and toys. Hard as it is, you get your rewards.'

Belatedly as they might be. Pavey is waiting to receive her bronze medal from the 10,000m at the 2007 World Championships after it was confirmed in March that Elvan Abeylegesse, the silver medallist, would be stripped for failing a doping test and there's a good chance it will be presented to her at the World Championships.

'Better late than never,' she says. 'I've been robbed of standing on that podium and had to go through months of feeling I failed. It makes you wonder about other races.'

And that is part of the pain. A career that yielded European Championships gold and silver, and two medals at the Commonwealth Games to go with the backdated World Championship bronze, may have produced more.

It is a glaring fact that in the 5,000m at the 2006 European Championships she finished fourth to three women who were found subsequently to have committed doping violations. None at the time or before the Championships, so no medals in the post, but it still throws up a cloud.

'It's sad,' Pavey says. 'When you see pictures of Sumgong crossing the line with a smile, you want to admire her.

'Things are improving but there is still a lot to do. Samples should be frozen for longer, and we need lifetime bans. If you have been caught then you should lose all the performances you have done (before the offence). They sound like hard measures but I think it's needed. We don't want more surprises.'