Greg Rutherford may be the reigning Olympic, Commonwealth and European champion for the long jump, but he does not seem to be all together happy about the direction his sport is moving in these days. Speaking recently, in the light of the widespread doping allegations that have arisen in recent months, he has suggested that he will not be actively encouraging his son to follow in his footsteps towards the upper echelons of the sport in future.
Rutherford was a part of the 'Super Saturday' golden triumvirate (Jess Ennis and Mo Farah being the other two) on the track in London during those heady summer nights of 2012, when the Athletics' team put the 'great' back in Britain at their home Olympics.
Yet, the 28-year-old Milton Keynes' athlete seems to be somewhat disillusioned that world athletics does not seem to be willing or able to put its house in order and to root out the doping cheats from the sport.
As a result, he has made it known that he will discourage his young son, Milo, born last October from becoming an athlete in the future. His views seem to be akin to those of fellow Olympian Darren Campbell, who claimed gold in the 4 x 100m relay in Athens in 2004, who said only last month that he too would look to steer his three Children away from athletics as they grow older, as the doping claims have led to him losing faith in the sport.
Rutherford made his stance clear when he said "I agree with Darren that it's the situation the sport is in.
I'll try to guide Milo in different paths. You might as well throw the sport to the dogs." He did, however, open the door to a reconsideration of his opinion in future "if the sport gets sorted."
The top long jumper's comments follow on from IAAF president Lamine Diack's weak observations that he was "shocked" to hear of claims that IAAF officials were implicated in the cover up surrounding the doping scandals in Russia, which the Russian authorities strenuously deny.
As for Rutherford's own form, following on from his double success last summer at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships, he was in winning shape yesterday at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix event, setting an indoor personal best of 8.17m. His main target this season will be the World Championships in Beijing in August, where he will be looking to complete the full set of major titles.
