After a couple of mediocre seasons, 21-year-old Alan Webb is back as the U.S.' top miler. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Track and field is being publicly gutted, day by day and minute by minute. Leading up to the Olympics Games, the most popular runner in the U.S. has been Smarty Jones, and he wore horseshoes, not spikes. NBC is promoting the daylights of its Olympic coverage, with nary a mention of what once was the marquee sport in the Summer Games. It's as if the network of the rings is just hoping people ignore track altogether and watch lots of gymnastics and swimming. And they very well might do just that.

Track was waning in popularity long before the BALCO scandal ripped it apart. But the biggest drug scandal in any major sport's history, while exactly what track needed to clean itself up, is paradoxically the fatal blow to its public popularity.

At least two athletes will suffer unjustly more than most: miler Alan Webb and pole vaulter Stacy Dragila. Each is on the cusp of completing a remarkable season with a run at the Olympic podium, possibly even a gold medal. Consider what was thought of Webb and Dragila before the season began:

Webb was famous for 15 minutes in 2001 after he ran a remarkable 3:53.45 mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., breaking the legendary Jim Ryun's all-time high school record. Until Webb became worn out a month after setting the record, he had a real chance to make the USA's team for the world championships in Edmonton that same summer. Then he spent a year at Michigan, subsequently pulled out of college track, signed with Nike and became a professional miler. Two mediocre seasons followed -- as well as a ton of knowing nods from track insiders who thought Webb had made a mistake and would never be heard from again.

Dragila was the first great women's pole vaulter in history, winning the gold medal in Sydney and breaking numerous world records between 1998 and 2000. There were whispers back then that Dragila had merely gotten a good jump on an "evolving'' event, and that others would soon catch and pass her. That seemed to happen in 2002 and 2003, as Dragila fought injuries and improving, younger vaulters like Svetlana Feofanova began taking down her records. The buzz was that Dragila would retire before Athens or simply be unable, athletically, to repeat as gold medalist. She was a pioneer, but had no legs.

The experts were wrong about both Webb and Dragila.

Webb has had a brilliant spring, steadily lowering his personal record in the 1,500 meters and mile, from 3:35 to 3:32 to the 3:50-point mile he ran last weekend at the Prefontaine Classic. People who thought Webb had peaked as a high school runner or that athletes couldn't succeed outside the bludgeoning of the U.S. college system have been proved wrong. In Eugene, Webb used 3:47-miler Laban Rotich as a virtual rabbit and ran the fastest time ever run by a U.S. miler on American soil.

It's tempting to become too excited, too quickly about Webb, what with the glamour of the mile, which is second in track and field prestige only to the 100 meters. Much as he was terrifically precocious as a high school junior and senior, he has now, at the age of 21, quickened the journey to world class. It still remains to be seen whether he is ready to beat the best milers in the world in a tactical, championship-type race. However, there's no longer any doubt that he's far more than a washed-up high school star or, as we all said back then, "the future of American miling.'' He's the present.

Dragila was a breath of fresh air when she burst upon the U.S. scene in 1996, winning the Olympic Trials pole vault before it became an official event at the Games. She was then, and remains, a fiercely competitive, unfailingly cooperative (with media and fans) and gifted athlete. Yet as she moved into her 30s and began to fight chronic foot injuries, and then switched coaches (from Dave Olson to Earl Bell), it seemed like she might be past her too-brief prime.

What is overlooked is her passion. As a kid, Dragila competed on the Northern California rodeo circuit, (this story is legend on the track circuit), which is no place for the weak-willed. She was a 400-meter hurdler and a heptathlete before taking up the pole vault just as it became popular, and thus has none of the gymnastic background that many of the new vaulters have. Yet her technique is masculine (that's a compliment) and flawless, and her strength and speed are unparalleled in her event.

Four years ago, Dragila was talking about becoming the first gold medalist in the women's pole vault and the first woman to vault 16 feet. Now she's talking about becoming the second gold medalist and -- still -- the first 16-foot female vaulter. Don't doubt her on either goal. Simply hope that ongoing scandals do not rob her -- or Webb -- of their spotlight. They are two that begin track's journey back from the abyss.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden weighs in with a Viewpoint every Friday on SI.com.