Two of the world's fastest men - Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell failed drug tests on Sunday and propelled the sporting world into another dark zone over the influence of performance emhancing drugs in the lives of athletes.
To sporting fans the news of triple world gold medallist Tyson Gay admitting that a urine sample he had provided in an out-of-competition drug test on May 16 had returned a positive result and that was the reason why he was pulling out of next month's World Championships in Moscow was a shocker.
Sports fans continue to feel cheated by their heroes as almost every year some athlete or the other tests positive for performance enhancement drugs.
Jamaican Asafa Powell- a former world-record holder in 100 meters also tested positive for the use of banned substances.
Here are the reactions of some fans to the news of doping:
Here are five athletes whose drug use admission stunned the world:
Lance Armstrong
The tainted 7-time Tour de France winner's admission of drug use to Oprah Winfrey earlier this year ended years of speculation surrounding the same. Armstrong brought an end to years of denial by admitting to the talk show host in a televised interview that he had cheated his way to a record seven Tour de France titles.
Marion Jones
The poster girl for the 2000 Sydney Olympics after announcing she planned to go one better than Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis and win five gold medals, Marion Jones also appeared on the Oprah show in 2008. After she won three gold medals in Sydney and earned millions of dollars from prize money and endorsements, Jones's life eventually fell apart.
Following years of denial, she served a six-month prison sentence the athlete admitting she had used performance-enhancing drugs before and during the Games. On the Oprah show, a woman hitherto always composed and controlled in public, wept while insisting that she was unaware she had been given banned drugs by her coach Trevor Graham.
Ben Johnson
The sprinter had his 100 m gold and world record at the 1988 Olympics stripped after testing positive for steroids. Carl Lewis was promoted and given the gold after this revelation.
Shoaib Akhtar
One of the fastest bowlers in the world of cricket at that time, Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for nandrolone, a banned drug in 2006 and was banned from the sport for 2 years. The Pakistani cricketer missed out competing in the Champions Trophy and after that faced a challenge to make it back to the national team.
Diego Maradona
The football star has been in the face of controversy through most of his career and even today continues to experience the same. From the hand of God moment that won Argentina the World Cup quarter-final match in 1986 against England to the time as Argentina national coach recently, Maradona has been controversies favourite child.
In 1991 after failing a drug test Maradone was suspended from football for 15 months as cocaine was found in his body. The footballer was also sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA after testing positive for ephedrine, a banned drug.
These sport stars and their tryst with doping has clouded the faith of many fans who worshipped them as idols and had pin ups of them in their bedrooms. But ultimately, the sport is bigger than an individual and always manages to have fans keeping the faith as new star rise with 'clean' reputations.
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