No longer exalted, track slouches toward China

There are inspirational stories.

Oscar Pistorius is a double-amputee sprinter from South Africa who runs on prosthetic blades and is trying to log an Olympic-qualifying time. Lopez Lomong, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” — young refugees of the civil war in that country who made it to the United States — who will represent his new home in the 1,500. Sanya Richards is a dominant 400-meter specialist for the U.S. who takes medicine to manage a rare disorder that has caused painful ulcers in her mouth and on her legs.

“I’m hoping fans will begin to have more faith in our sport, but that’s more about actions than words,” Richards said. “Because you can say you’re clean over and over again, but it’s really in your actions and running well and never testing positive.”

So here, then, is the good news for the sport, news that everyone from USA Track & Field president Bill Roe to hurdler-turned-agent Renaldo Nehemiah to the athletes themselves love to point out whenever they get the chance: There hasn’t been bad news in quite some time.

No truly prominent track athlete from any country failed a drug test this year. No one came up positive at the sport’s 2007 world championships.

“That’s a (testament) to the sport being cleaned up, and I’m really excited about how far we’ve come since the 2004 Games,” said Lauryn Williams, a silver medalist in the 100 at the last Olympics who will run that event again for the United States. “People are doing a better job of cleaning themselves up and getting athletes that are cheating out.”

Keeping clean. It’s clearly Step 1 in track’s comeback.

Here’s the rest of the formula: stirring stories, and a world record or two.

“Look at swimming: Michael Phelps won how many gold medals and broke how many records at the Olympics in ’04?” said Wallace Spearmon, a medal contender for the U.S. at 200 meters. “If people go out and get great performances — 9.7 in the 100; 19.5 or 19.6 in the 200; Jeremy (Wariner) goes out there and does his thing — I believe track and field will be right back where it needs to be.

“Where,” Spearmon added, “it deserves to be.”

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