In an era when the level of competition in athletics was, perhaps, at its all-time peak, Mike Powell surmounted all the challenges to reign supreme. The long jump world record holder flourished under immense pressure, staving off stiff competition from the likes of Carl Lewis. “As an athlete, that’s the kind of competition you are looking for. And if you win that fair and square, then fame will follow you,” he said.

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He stressed on ‘fair’, adding that there are downsides of competing in a tough environment. “It is very easy to fall into the trap of achieving easy success by going on the wrong track,” Powell said, referring to the half-a-dozen Indian athletes who tested positive for banned substances last week.

The legendary American athlete — in the city as the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) ambassador to announce the body’s 10-year strategic partnership with Nirmal Lifestyle — seemed to be up-to-date on the recent developments that have tainted the Indian athletes. Eight  athletes, including three members of the much-celebrated 4x400m relay team — Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose — flunked dope tests for anabolic steroids.

And though he sounded sympathetic, Powell minced no words in coming down harshly on them. “The reason why the athletes get into taking drugs and other performance enhancing drugs is because their coach is telling them to do it in order to compete at the highest level,” he said. “Fortunately for me, when I was competing, my coach never suggested anything like that. He just said, ‘You just need to work and work smart and you’ll have the same results.’ Plus what they are doing is plain cheating. Some people have right kind of morals, some don’t. You become a champion be competing, not cheating. To cheat and win is not worth it. They should be banned for life.”

Powell acknowledged that the perception of athletics has taken a beating world-wide in the recent years. But he wishes to see the brighter side of the doping cases. “I think if you look at it, it’s a good thing to have happened. It shows that athletics is one of the few sports that is willing to bust its stars. So, it shows we are taking it seriously. The athletes now know that if they are doing something wrong, they are taking a big, big risk,” said the 47-year-old.

Powell, meanwhile, was highly optimistic of his one-time protege Anju Bobby George. Powell is optimistic that Anju, making a return to competitive athletics post motherhood. “A lot of time you’ll see that when women have children they come back with little more strength and determination too. Anju is a great athlete. If she is healthy, then she has really good chance of making a grand comeback. You can never say that anybody can do something for sure but like I said, she is very competitive and doesn’t want to lose. So while there’s no guarantee but it’s worth a try for her,” he said.