Merlene Ottey’s determination and dignity have earned her universal affection and respect, and the news of her positive test for  nandrolone has stunned the entire nation. So far only her urine A sample has been analyzed. Until the B sample is tested, she remains innocent until proven guilty. Jamaica can only hope for the best as due process take its course.

This once again brings up questions about drugs and sports. Many maintain that in today’s big money athletic world, no one can win without taking performance enhancing substances. And certain athletes have aroused great suspicions. Florence Griffiths-Joiner for example, was a good but not great athlete in 1984, earning only a silver medal in the Olympics. But in 1988 she set a series of world records which remain untouchable eleven years later. Her rippled thighs and deep voice added to people’s doubts, and when she died mysteriously aged only thirty seven, many felt she had paid the ultimate price for taking body altering drugs.

Insiders say that today’s preferred method of performance maximization for big track stars is not steroids but human growth hormones. A year’s supply of HGHs costs over $100,000 US, meaning only athletes involved in rich and sophisticated national programs can afford them. Blood testing followed by DNA qualitative analysis for source is the only way in which HGHs can be detected. Yet the International Olympic Committee has voted against blood testing at the 2000 Games.

Some feel track and field’s problems begin at the top. They argue that officials could rid the sport of drugs completely, if they really wanted to. But rigorous drug testing of everyone every time would mean fewer of the ‘superman’ world record performances that excite the public. Slower times mean less TV coverage and ultimately less money.

IOC officials are reputedly feted with money, gifts and even women by cities bidding for the Games. Not surprisingly they are reluctant to take steps that might undermine these lavish lifestyles. The sweet perks of power are difficult to give up. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch is over 80 yet refuses to retire.

Only a child could believe track and field is the only sport with a drug problem. Which sensible person thinks that monstrously outsized professional wrestlers and American football players get that way merely by lifting weights? Or that the massive steel like arms of some baseball stars are the result only of normal exercise? Cash corrupts – the love of money is the root of all evil says the good book. And the more money involved, the greater the temptation to cheat. Not all athletes take drugs, but many find lucre’s lure irresistible.

Some old timers say it was never like this in their day - their boyhood heroes were all paragons of virtue. Those who feel that human nature was, is and will always be the same the world over disagree. W. G. Grace, the first sports superstar, claimed to be an amateur cricketer. Yet he earned more than his professional counterparts and was famous for intimating poorly paid umpires. The 1919 baseball World Series was rigged by gamblers. Sonny Ramadhin has sadly confessed that he wore his shirtsleeves long to conceal his illegal bowling action. Human frailty has always been with us.

But celebrities today are far more closely scrutinized by the media. Behaviour that was commonplace in times past yet not reported in the press, is now often deemed unacceptable and heavily publicized. As poor Bill Clinton complained, Jack Kennedy was a much more brazen womanizer than he. But JFK got away with it because the press in those days said nothing. But times change. And though some complain about media invasions of privacy, celebrity scandals would not be printed or broadcast if the general public wasn’t interested in them.

Famous figures who manage to stay out of serious trouble, or who have died and are now beyond criticism, are often built up by public relation spin doctors into faultless role models. But the public images of most celebrities are largely imaginary facades. Is Michael Jordan really a generous nice guy? Was Bob Marley a truly mystical thinker? Was Princess Diana kind and helpful in private? No one except their close friends could know. We like to think our favourite athletes, singers and movie stars are decent, honest and kind to little old women and babies. But a person does not have to be good hearted to jump high, sing well or look beautiful. Apart from their exceptional talents and looks, why should we think such people are any better or worse than most of us?

Real heroes are those who display exceptional and uncompromising physical and moral courage, and the modern world is not bereft of such figures. Nelson Mandela, who spent thirty years in prison and came out preaching not bitterness and violence but compassion and forgiveness, is surely worthy of everyone’s utmost admiration. Mother Theresa, who dedicated her entire life to helping the destitute, left a shining example for all mankind.

Jamaica too has truly heroic individuals, and Dr. Heather Little-White is one of them. I have never met Dr. Little-White. To be honest, her name only entered my consciousness when I heard of the tragic shooting which left her a paraplegic. But her interview on Hot 102 last week simply astonished me.

Not once did she complain of her plight. She was full of lively good humour, as if this terrible incident had only been a slight inconvenience. She cheerfully discussed how she was managing to live a normal life in a wheelchair, and profusely thanked all the friends and family who had rallied around her. With all that she had gone through, she still professed love for Jamaica and was glad to be back, for there was no place like home. Most incredibly she confessed to feeling no bitterness to her attackers since they really were not aware of what they were doing. She felt that if Jamaica took better care of its young people, such things would not happen and she was going to continue to work towards that goal.

Dr. Little-White attributed her positive outlook to her deep faith in God, and a faith that gives such comfort in so difficult a situation is to be envied indeed. Listening to her reaffirmed my belief in Jamaicans and the human spirit. For if courage, compassion, forgiveness and largeness of heart are not the characteristics of a heroine, then the word means nothing. There are troubles and hardships aplenty in this life below, but a world with such people in it can never be without hope.