Mike Rowbottom: To dope, or not to dope - Cathal Kelly versus Adam van Koeverden

As a columnist for The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Cathal Kelly ticked all the boxes with his recent reflections upon United States baseball star Alex Rodriguez and the conundrum of performance-enhancing drugs which his recent bust has provoked.

Kelly's teaser tweet, linked to his article, did the job: "Alex Rodriguez did drugs. So would I. And so would you."

Reports in the Miami Herald earlier this month detailed the New York Yankees fabled third baseman's confession to the Drug Enforcement Administration in return for criminal immunity in the Biogenesis PED case.

According to the report, Mr. Rodriguez - who has never publicly admitted his systematic doping - was spending $12,000 (£7,500/€9,500) per month on human-growth hormone, testosterone cream and "vitamin" injections.

The essence of Kelly's argument was this: highly paid professional athletes will naturally do whatever it takes to maintain their careers.

Alex Rodriguez, of the New York Yankees, has been suspended for doping abuse. The Globe and Mail columnist Cathal Kelly doesn't particularly care ©Getty Images

"I believe it for the same reason any of us believes anything speculative," Kelly writes. "Because were I in their position, that's what I would do...

"I don't care if they do drugs, because I don't care to police the behaviour of others. If I feel drugs are ruining the game - any game - I'll watch something else. Mostly, I don't want to know."

Kelly adds: "I would also quite happily, and without any sense of shame, bald-facedly lie about it to anyone who asked. People don't want to hear the truth about this, They don't care one way or the other. They prove it by continuing to watch baseball."

You might describe this as the argument of a devil's advocate. Maybe, though, it's simply what Cathal Kelly believes, and he is entitled to his extremely well expressed opinion, which deftly summarises a widely held attitude towards cheating in sport which, inevitably, refers back to cheating in life:

"If you believe you'd do better, I'd wonder if you've ever cut a corner?.. This is no different than that. Athletes are entertainers. Drugs make them more entertaining."

Kelly dismisses the opinions of anyone other than athletes who have found themselves with similar prompts and temptations to A-Rod: "I'm only interested in hearing from those who faced the choice."

Canada's multiple Olympic medallist kayaker Adam van Koeverden has written a strong riposte to Kelly's column in The Globe and Mail ©Getty Images

Well Kelly has had his wish, in the form of an equally cogent response in The Globe and Mail from Canada's Adam van Koeverden, Canada's sprint kayaker who won Olympic gold and bronze in 2004 and silver at the last two Games.

Referring to Kelly's tweet, Van Koeverden wrote:

"I was hoping to find something satirical, something ironic, or some kind of an admission that Kelly was being facetious...I didn't find any of that. All I found was a hollow attempt to justify performance-enhancing drug use in sport."

After observing that he has never considered taking drugs to enhance his performance, despite now training, at the age of 32, for a fourth Olympics, Van Koeverden challenges the fundamental assumption of Kelly's piece.

"If someone cheats," Van Koeverden writes, "they only compromise one thing: their integrity. To clarify, we are talking about chronic dishonesty, when it comes to cheating. Taking drugs to enhance your performance isn't a little white lie. It's an egregious affront to the very foundation upon which sport is built."

The kayaker goes on to observe: "Jerks like A-Rod and Lance Armstrong have already got away with enough. They got to be cover stories and champions and idols for the masses. All based on false pretenses.

Lance Armstrong, riding the 2010 Tour de France, before his doping suspension. Van Koeverden describes him as a 'jerk' ©Getty Images

"They made millions and will continue to make millions through endorsements and appearances until they're in their cold graves. Let's not exonerate their flagrant disregard for the rules. Let's not say it's okay, or that everyone does it."

Two very good, well expressed, opposing points of view. Good reading as far as The Globe and Mail is concerned, for sure. But which is true? Because surely they can't both be? Black can't be white, white can't be black, and if it's grey, it's neither.

Should Lance Armstrong, or Ben Johnson, or Marion Jones, simply have been left alone to get on with it?

Maybe the best way of getting at the truth is by analogy.

If it doesn't matter what you are really watching when you watch sport, then does it matter if someone really loves you?

A tearful Marion Jones, multiple Olympic and world sprint champion, speaks to media outside a US courthouse in 2007 after pleading guilty to charges relating to steroid abuse ©Getty Images

If the answer is no, then fair enough - sail on. If not, then maybe a little more reflection is in order.

After running through all the details of Rodriguez's case, Kelly concludes by saying: "The one difference from script is that if I was caught, I'd confess fully and immediately."

Question for Mr Kelly. If this is truly what you believe, why does this - or indeed anything - matter?

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.