The world doesn’t know the name Travis Tygart as much as it knows the organization he runs.

For many, namely those athletes who are cheating their way through elite amateur sports, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is judge and jury.

Tygart is its chief justice.

Sadly, we often hear about the result of Tygart’s work. An athlete takes performance-enhancing drugs. USADA catches the athlete. It gets reported. The athlete loses medals and gains embarrassment and a lengthy ban from their sport.

Simple as that.

“The battle for clean sport nationally is being waged out of Colorado Springs,” USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean said. “Travis, who is not particularly well known to the public, is making a contribution to credibility and future health of everybody’s sports.”

The credibility issue is key. Some public trust has been lost when it comes to people performing amazing athletic feats. Unbelievable acts are just that. These days it seems as if the race isn’t over until the drug test results return.

Soon Tygart’s responsibilities will extend beyond performance-enhancing drugs.

Gene doping might become as big a phenomenon as steroids among the elite who cheat.

Defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency, gene doping is the “nontherapeutic use of cells, genes, and genetic elements, or the modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to improve athletic performance.”

There are no known ways of detecting gene dopers. If and when the practice of manipulating bodies at a cellular level becomes common, the difficulty of Tygart’s job will increase.