Run, Karla, Run!

Along with the best of the decade, the “naughty aughties” have been notable for many a moment we’d rather forget. But as the old adage goes, forgive but never forget. So here’s a look back at the scandals and heartbreaks that shook the running world in the past decade.

5). Antonio Pettigrew admits to doping

Though he never failed a drug test, like so many other track stars caught up in the doping imbroglio that plagued the last decade, Pettigrew (pictured left) confessed in 2008 to using performance-enhancing drugs. As a result, he and his 4×400 relay teammates were stripped of their gold medals from the 2000 Olympics. But it wasn’t just Pettigrew. His relay-mates Alvin and Calvin Harrison (pictured second left and second right) had already been slapped with four- and two-year suspensions respectively for their own doping offenses. And relay alternate Jerome Young was banned for life in 2004 after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Only Michael Johnson (pictured right) escaped the scandals unscathed. The U.S. men have won the 4×400 relay every Olympics since 1984. But this put a blight on that record. It certainly wasn’t the first we’d heard of doping in track and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

4). Vanderlei de Lima attacked by a spectator during the 2004 Olympic marathon

It was one of the most shocking, bizarre and heartbreaking moments of the Athens games. With only three miles left in the race, front-runner de Lima was tackled by Cornelius Horan, a defrocked Irish Priest, dressed in a kilt, knee-high socks and green beret. Horan pushed de Lima into the crowd on the sidelines until spectators helped de Lima break free and continue the race. De Lima appeared to be injured, or at the very least, shaken. But the Brazilian mustered the strength to finish the race in one of the most heroic efforts I’ve ever seen. He lost valuable time and energy in the attack, and Italy’s Stefano Baldini passed him a mile later followed by Meb Keflezighi of the U.S. De Lima ended up with the bronze. If not for the attack, would de Lima have won gold? It’s certainly possible, but we’ll never know. The IOC awarded de Lima the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship, an honor that has been bestowed upon only 10 athletes in the history of the games.

3). Caster Semenya’s gender is questioned

This is one of those scandals where you feel sorry for the figure at the center. Really sorry. When rumors began to fly earlier this year that South Africa’s Semenya was actually a man competing as a woman, an international brouhaha ensued. The 18-year old’s 800-meter win at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin only made matters worse, and during the competition barbs were already flying aimed at the runner and Athletics South Africa. A subsequently leaked gender test fuelled rumors that she is a hermaphrodite with heightened testosterone levels three times the average woman. The IAAF launched a panel to investigate the matter and offered to pay for gender surgery should she need it to keep competing as a woman. To make matters worse, reports circulated that Semenya purportedly planned to file lawsuits against the IAAF and Athletics South Africa to the tune of $120 million for alledgedly leaking the confidential gender test. But today, Semenya’s lawyers have said that such reports are “nonsense.” With no resolution in sight, questions linger as to whether Semenya will compete again, and how the IAAF with handle sensitive issues of gender in the future.

2). Marion Jones admits to doping

In 2000, Marion Jones won five Olympic medals at the Sydney Games, and in 2007 they were all stripped away. In many ways, this was the story of the decade for track and field. And not an uncommon one at that. Jones was the heir apparent to track legends like Jackie Joyner Kersey, but instead ended the decade in infamy. Not only did she admit to doping, and not only was she stripped of all her Olympic medals, and not only was she suspended from competition for two years, but she also served nearly six months in federal prison for perjury and taking part in a check-fraud scam. The 34-year old is now out of prison and picking up the pieces. Reports surfaced a month ago that Jones is training for a comeback in the WNBA. She was the starting point guard for North Carolina’s national championship team in 1994. The New York Times reported that Jones is working out with trainers for the San Antonio Silver Stars and hoping to play pro ball in the 2010 season.

1). Ryan Shay collapses at the US Olympic Trials

This was the race that shocked American running. Ryan Shay, just 28 years-old, collapsed five and half miles into the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2007 in New York City. Bystanders gave him CPR and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Many of his teammates like Ryan Hall—who won the race in record time—didn’t even know it happened until crossing the finish. Shay’s death cast a pall over the New York City Marathon the following day and the 2008 Olympic Marathon the following summer. The former national marathon champion had an enlarged heart, which may have contributed to his death, but an autopsy was inconclusive.

Just a month earlier at the 2007 Chicago Marathon, 35-year old runner Chad Schieber died after collapsing on the course during a now infamous heat wave. He too had a heart condition. The two incidents incited a heated debate over the safety of marathoning, and Runner’s World filed an in-depth report on the issue. But five deaths this fall at the Detroit and San Jose Rock-n-Roll Marathons reignited the debate. Meanwhile, American Running is still mourning the loss of one of it’s stars in Ryan Shay.

Stay tuned for a more uplifting look at the decade past when I reveal my picks for the Best Moments of the Decade in Running…