Volume 50 Issue 5 - May 2012 : Sports

 

Baloyi’s ban will be lifted in July this year obviously making him ineligible for the coming London Games since it will be late to make the team. Since he was banned he has been on his own as Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) officials revealed that they had decided not to challenge IAAF’s decision given that it will be costly.

Kutlwano caught up with the athlete who is still battling with the thought of being a victim of drug abuse. The Mahalapye-born runner relocated to Gaborone early this year to start shaping up for the new season.“Right now, I do not want to hear anything about athletics. When I watch athletics competitions on television I picture myself and it breaks me - that is why I prefer to watch football,” says a visibly emotional Baloyi.  

The 800m sprinter says his lay off has not been as hard as having to face society. “With people looking at you with hypercritical eyes, with the obvious notion that you were caught for using heroin, cocaine and other drugs,” Baloyi fails to fathom such a scenario.

He expresses gratitude though towards BAA former public relations officer, Glody Dube, whom he describes as his pillar of strength and role model. He says Dube, an experienced athlete and administrator, encouraged him to gather his strength and start again, saying it made an impact in his life since the scandal broke.

“I have endured a lot on my own. I had to solely depend on family support as there was never any professional counselling for me. I had to be my own counsellor,” he recalls. Baloyi says while those close to him had the opportunity to ask him and get the correct picture he wonders what those who did not have that chance to ask him think of him.

Until something happens, that is when one realises the gravity of the matter, he says, adding that he was never really concerned about drugs as he thought it was a problem for Americans who compete for millions of dollars, and who can even afford personal doctors.

“I did not know that I could afford drugs too,” says the athlete with a crestfallen countenance. According to him, he has not considered supplements as a danger to his health until the final hearing when Botswana  National Olympic Committee (BNOC) officials told him that he would have to ‘rest’ for two years.

He says drugs to him were about syringes and stuff like that, adding that it blew him off as it happened at a time when his career was at its peak. “I had to forfeit all the Euros I made in meets I took part in, thereby coming back home empty handed too was intolerable,” laments Baloyi.

News of Baloyi’s positive drug test for mechylhexanamina during a race in Belgium shook the local sporting fraternity. That was a slap on the face of BAA, which had sent Baloyi together with other two athletes to compete in European meets under a German company - Athletes First Management.

While based in Germany, Baloyi competed in several lucrative competitions, and apart from vying tocompete professionally, his intention was to attract the attention of talent scouts.  He was on the verge of realising his dream when accusations of substance abuse cropped up.  Just like in the case of Kelli White and Justin Gatlin, Baloyi’s innocence is still unconvincing except pointing a finger at a pharmacy worker who recommended an energy drink - Jack 3D - as the source of all his troubles. 

The athlete has since returned home and has remained in his home village, Mahalapye.  He still maintains that he had been using Explode energy drink, saying since it was not available the pharmacist where he shopped recommended energy drink Jack 3D which resulted in the ban.

Since the ban includes neither training nor competing in both the local association and international meets, Baloyi has started with road and hill work to prepare for the new season.

His intention is to surpass his personal best of 1:46:03 that qualified him for the Commonwealth Games that he never participated in. “I am eager to prove that I can do without performance enhancers and my aim is to register 1:45:00 or lower. US 400 sprinter, LaShawn Merritt, was caught up in the same mess but now he is back and making a mark on tracks, why can’t I?” quizzed Baloyi.

He underscores the need for more education to create awareness for young athletes and to alert them on some substances they may lend them in trouble.  “I am yet to live my dream of being in the world’s Top Five,” says an optimistic Baloyi, adding that only time will tell.

It seems that lady-luck is not on the Mahalapye lad’s side, given that prior to the drug scandal, the athlete had been off the competitive tracks for sometime after he was dismissed from a Kenyan High Performance Centre four years ago, accused of lack of discipline. 

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