Running in circles

Trevor Graham, the former track coach for Marion Jones, was convicted in federal court in California on Thursday for perjury. A 12-member jury found that Graham had lied to federal investigators when he claimed that he had not spoken to an admitted steroids dealer since 1997. But Graham's conviction may be just the tip of the iceberg.

From Ben Johnson to Marion Jones, track and field has seen its share of scandals and setbacks over the years. Both Johnson and Jones had to give up their Olympic medals after they were caught cheating, and the sport has suffered from suspicion as a result of the controversies.

But the road to athletic fame is littered with fallen stars. There's also Tim Montgomery, an Olympic gold medalist who was sentenced to 46 months in prison a few weeks ago for his role in a multimillion-dollar fake-check scheme. And there's several others with lesser known names.

That's a lot of scandal for one sport to handle. And all these stories are coming to light in a high-profile Olympic year, when the eyes of the world will be watching track and field from now until the Beijing Olympics in August.

To help us sort through all the controversy, we asked nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis and former NCAA track champion M.W. Moore to explain. They're both former runners, but they've had very different life and career experiences.

Lewis argues that the problem of drugs and sports starts with the de-emphasis of Physical Education courses in schools.

And Moore, a former NCAA runner who later served time in prison, writes about a pervasive culture of drugs, sex and irresponsibility among high-level athletes.

It's a special feature on sports, drugs and athletes only here on The Daily Voice.