Notes from a sporting week – 19/11/07

End of the odd couple:

With the end of the tennis season came a surprising split between British number one Andy Murray and his coach Brad Gilbert. Murray sighted the need to maintain his progress and now plans to have a larger entourage with different coaches for specific elements of his game.

The pair had been together for 16 months in which Murray made enormous progress. When they linked up in July 2006 the Scot was ranked 36. Now he sits 11th in the rankings after reaching a career high of eight in June 2007. The period together also included probably Murray’s best performance when he scared the life out of Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at this year’s Australian Open. He was also one victory shy of playing in the end of year Master’s Cup in Shanghai for the world’s top eight players.

When the deal was announced a lot of eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that Gilbert, who had previously worked with Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, was receiving £750,000 a year for his efforts. They were raised higher when the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced that they were funding this salary, with the American expected to run camps in the UK and overseas to help raise the playing and coaching standards in Britain. That part will continue with Gilbert expected to help out Alex Bogdanovic who is ranked 116th in the world,

There is no doubt that Gilbert has had a significant effect on Murray’s game, as the results testify. Murray has improved his fitness and consistency, though it was unfortunate that he missed Wimbledon and US Open this year with a wrist injury, as they would have been barometers to how he had progressed in the latter part of the partnership.

However, the state of the relationship between the pair was shown to have deteriorated with Murray’s statement, when he thanked the LTA for providing him with Gilbert, but not direct thanks to the man himself; “I am very grateful for the help that the LTA have given me by providing Brad Gilbert as a coach,” he said.

How the relationship turned so bad isn’t obviously clear and the state of the relationship between Gilbert and Murray’s mother Judy, who also has a development role with the LTA, isn’t abundantly obvious. Some have also said that with too such intense personalities as Gilbert and Murray, that spending so much time together on the tour would inevitably lead to cracks.

What the split does show is that Murray is no sentimentalist. He ditched his original coach, Mark Petchey, when he made it to the top 50 and has now done the same with Gilbert now that a regular place in the top 10 is within reach. One suspects that the new arrangement won’t be too dissimilar to the one he had with Gilbert, after all the American would not have been able to advise on every element in Murray’s game and has one of the best contacts books in tennis.

Canadian Louis Cayer, who has already worked with Murray’s brother Jamie, is being tipped as Gilbert’s successor to head up the Scot’s new coaching team, but whoever it is needs to be a strong and direct with Murray as Gilbert was to keep the Murray progress curve upward. Sport’s history is littered with players who thought they knew what they needed better than anyone else and ended up never reaching the previous heights again. However, there are also plenty of examples of athletes who made such a brave choice and improved immeasurably. It has to be hoped that when history judges Murray he falls into the latter category, rather than be thought of as someone who too a snap decision for the sake of his eardrums and ego.

WADA changes the guard:

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was firmly in the news this week with a change at the very top. President, Canadian Dick Pound, stood down after eight years in charge and was replaced by Australian John Fahey. It was not the smoothest of transitions after the initial favourite, Frenchman Jean-Francois Lamour pulled out in a fit of pique, having thought he would stand unopposed and 1976 French Olympic 110m hurdle champion Guy Drut was pushed forward as a late rival to Fahey, but there were too many skeletons in his cupboard.

Madrid was the setting for the handover of the presidency, the Spanish capital hosting the annual conference on doping in sport. Of greater significance were a number of proposed changes to doping violations, which were badly needed at the end of a year in which any number of sports have been tarnished by doping scandals of one type or another.

Chief amongst the changes was the decision to introduce four year bans for athletes who fail drugs tests in particular circumstances; if they were part of a wider doping scandal (such as the BALCO affair), for multiple usage, for having been convicted of having used drugs for longer their ineligibility period and for impeding anti-doping investigations.

Such changes will delight any number of federation, not least the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) who have been talking about introducing a four-year ban for first time offenders for a number of years now. The ban will focus the athlete’s minds. After all an Olympic champion can no longer fail a drugs test and then be back to try again at the next edition four years later.

However, there are still those who think that WADA could still be taking a more hands-on approach to drug testing. Victor Conte, who was at the heart of the BALCO scandal and seems to fancy a poacher turned game keeper role, said that whilst laboratory and drug testing polices may be laid down by WADA, all too often they are overlooked by non-compliant governing bodies, not least his own at the USA Olympic Committee.

It is hard to disagree with him, especially when seen in light of the Operacion Puerto scandal that erupted in May 2006 when Spanish police raided clinics in Madrid and Zaragoza and found bags of blood, blood transfusion equipment and anabolic steroids. However, whilst 34 athletes were named and shamed as drug cheats, the case was closed in March this year, claiming no offences were committed under Spanish law in regards to public health, a ruling the Spanish government is appealing.

Whilst Pound will not exactly be missed by any number of people and sports bodies, he has certainly focused a lot of minds since the body was set up 1999 with him as president. He appeared to be on a personal crusade against Marion Jones, someone who had never failed a drugs test, but he was proven correct when she admitted to doping for the best past of a decade. He has also brought governments into the anti-doping process, allowing them to round up coaches, suppliers and the athletes for criminal as well as sporting offences.

The effect of these changes was abundantly clear in the recent US-led ‘Operation Raw Deal’ that resulted in the seizure of 11.4 million steroid dosages, 124 arrests made and 56 labs closed across nine countries. What Fahey needs to do is build on these stings and if possible push for greater criminal punishments. 2007 demonstrated that the struggle against doping is never likely to finish, but that with closer co-operation between sporting bodies and governments the temptation to take or supply drugs is only great enough for either the most stubborn or most stupid. However, getting governments and individuals who feel they have much to gain through sporting success to comply, will be one obstacle that WADA will always face and how well Fahey does in this regard will certainly go a long way to defining his time as president.
JI 19/11/07