Jim Steacy, Canadian hammer thrower, longs to compete on level playing field

In a career that has spanned nearly 20 years, there have been times when Canadian hammer thrower Jim Steacy wanted to say goodbye to the sport.

There is no professional circuit for the 31-year-old and his teammates. Steacy doesn't make a lot of money. And he puts his heart and soul into a sport in which he has become a die-hard, knowing he's competing against those who take performance-enhancing substances.

Steacy told CBCSports.ca it was "extremely satisfying" on Monday when a World Anti-Doping Agency panel discussed its findings from an investigation into the Russian government, accusing it of complicity in widespread doping and coverups by its track and field athletes.

He saw it as a potential move towards an even playing field for athletes like himself that are competing clean.

Steacy said he knows of two Russian athletes who dope, citing comments made by other coaches in the track and field world and the athletes themselves openly talking about cheating.

There are certain athletes that you compete against ... and they're open about [taking PEDs]. They'll come out and ask, what are you on? What program are you on this month? ... You just gotta say I don't do that stuff.- Canadian hammer thrower Jim Steacy

But there is little that can be done if those Russian athletes are not being discouraged from cheating by their coaches or country and, Steacy said, the International Association of Athletics Federations is going to cover it up.

"What hope do you have as a clean athlete to be successful on the world stage when you're instantly at a disadvantage?" said Steacy, who hails from Lethbridge, Alta.

"There are certain athletes that you compete against or that you know compete in track and field and they're open about [taking PEDs]. They'll come out and ask, 'What are you on? What program are you on this month or this week or this season?' You just gotta say I don't do that stuff. I rest. I eat properly."

Steacy, a two-time Olympian who at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games became the first Canadian to make a hammer throw final in 84 years, joked that he sometimes forgets to take drink a protein shake after a workout.

"Any additional help I get is from the fridge and the grocery store," he said.

"It's tough [to compete against cheaters] and makes you question why you do it. There's very little opportunity to make money in my sport so when you get a chance to compete at a world championship or Olympic Games, you try to win those medals and get a little bit of personal satisfaction and glory because we're not going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars like some of the sprinters."

Steacy used the word "disheartening" when talking about countries that turn a blind eye to doping and said it's tough to swallow "because Canadians are some of the most highly-tested athletes in the world."

Canada's Lanni Marchant, who has qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women's 10,000 metres and marathon, said she was tested three times — two blood and one urine — at the world track and field championships in Beijing in August.

"I finished 18th [in the 10,000]," she said. "I definitely think the mechanisms are there and they're testing athletes but there were 17 girls in front of me and I'm really questioning if any of them were tested three times."

Call for better testing

Marchant, 31, called for a stronger system of testing to make sure athletes are being tested in their home country and abroad.

The London, Ont., native has only competed at the world and Olympic levels since 2012 and conceded she doesn't have enough of a book on the younger competition to confirm her suspicions.

But it's a different story when it comes to a veteran runner.

Last March, Marchant watched Russia's Maria Konovalova run the fastest marathon by a 40-year-old woman, finishing in two hours 22 minutes 27 seconds at the Nagoya Marathon in Japan.

Earlier this month, the 41-year-old Konovalova was suspended two years by the Russian Athletics Federation for doping and all of her results dating back to 2009 were annulled.

"I was watching that marathon and thinking, are you kidding me? If you're going to be dirty and try to make money … when you're past your Olympic and world championship years, at least be smart about it.

"Everyone knows a 41-year-old isn't going to run 2:22. When you see the older athletes and how they're built, that's when I roll my eyes. … There's a look to the athlete when they're older and they're getting popped [caught].

"In a perfect world I would love that at 41 I'll be able to run 2:22," Marchant added. "I know how hard I'm working to be a 2:28 girl [a personal best and Canadian record] so there's definitely some fancy juices going on."