Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs (Doping)

[Mugundan]

I think there has never been a comparable instance in the world where an athlete cries full and he/she is let off. Or an athlete brings forward a witness or a couple of witnesses to establish that they (witnesses) spiked his/her food/drink and succeeds in getting a complete exoneration.
If the simple argument in Narsingh case is accepted (with or without a witness claiming that he spiked drink/food) then practically no athlete could be penalized for a positive dope test.
In this case the witness who might have spiked his drink will be required to explain how he entered the complex, how me managed to evade detection in a wrestling hall where there would have been other trainees and coaches; what his grouse was against Narsingh; whether he could be considered a "competitor" to Narsingh; from where he purchase the drug; whether he is familiar with the names of the steroids etc. The NADA lawyer did not get a chance to cross-examine the witness if indeed such a witness provided this alibi for the wrestler.
During the hearing process, apparently, as per sketchy newspaper reports, nothing much was proved by the 'defence' to explain how the prohibited substance got into the athlete's body. Just by stating one day that it might have been through food, then supplement, then drink a panel would not normally be convinced.
NADA has not yet released the order to the media. Unless reporters/analysts are able to read and understand the weight of the evidence provided either through normal hearing or else through 'secret' sessions with panel members without the lawyers, no one might be able to conclusively prove anything.
The way things developed it looked like a 'cooked up' story. Anti-doping needs to be tightened in our country rather than allowed to be dictated by emotions and political pressures. WADA may have to step in and correct the situation as it has done in other countries recently.

[prasen9]

Whoever in NADA cooperated in a coverup should be fired.

[prasen9]

People are talking about all sorts of predictions, etc. So, I would like to start some prediction-related posts in this thread? Who do you think has doped, will be caught, and whose medal will be rescinded in this Olympics?

[Prashant]

I am predicting that at least two of the winning horses in equestrian will test positive for spinach.

[prasen9]

Great. So far, nobody else is interested in muck-raking. So, you will win the prediction contest if that happens.

[gbelday]

People are talking about all sorts of predictions, etc. So, I would like to start some prediction-related posts in this thread? Who do you think has doped, will be caught, and whose medal will be rescinded in this Olympics?

So what happens if the Russian women's archery team gets disqualified (for doping)? Any chance for Indian team to move up and land a medal?

[arjun2761]

I assume the team which finished 4th would get the bronze. Since India lost in the QFs, I don't see how they would "move up" and get a medal unless multiple teams are disqualified somehow. In any case, I suspect chances of PED usage in Archery is relatively low...

[Mugundan]

I think one of the Indian track and field athletes may test positive.

[Varma]

Is it the Track or the Field, Mugu? You can at least give that hint

- Varma

[Mugundan]

Right now there are bright candidates in both track and field though giving a hint at this stage might not be the right thing to do. The possibility on the field side is greater.

[jayakris]

Right now there are bright candidates in both track and field ...

Haha. Bright green, from being vegetarians, I suppose.

[Kumar]

Interesting article
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shot ... gal-doping

[jayakris]

The latest on the Narsingh saga -
Narsingh intentionally doped, took tablets more than once, rules CAS
Are we supposed to assume that these simple details like the concentration of substance etc, which could not have come from some drinks being spiked (as pointed out by the expert witness professor from Canada that CAS had) were not known to NADA? What the hell kind of pressure was being put on NADA by our politicians?

I don't want to believe it, and I still feel that Narsingh got screwed by somebody, but the case against him seems pretty damn strong.

[jayakris]

Another good article from KP Mohan - A Long Road Ahead for Narsingh Yadav

He writes,

On the one hand NADA is acting on behalf of every federation, including the WFI, as it executes its functions as the national agency in charge of enforcing anti-doping measure. On the other hand, NADA finds federations, in this case the WFI, on the ‘opposite’ side of things when it brings a doping charge against an athlete.

“We will fully back our athlete; we will not spare any effort to defend him” is an oft-heard argument. Is there not a contradiction here? NADA is expected to spend its resources tracking offenders on behalf of the national federations; however, it spends more resources presenting such cases before hearing panels and being opposed by the combined resources of the accused athlete and the federation.

There is the crux of our problem, succinctly put. I was disgusted at seeing the utterances from WFI like "we stand by our athletes". And our newspapers report it to the unsuspecting public like that is the right and honorable way to look at it. No. Anti-doping principles do not work like that. The moment an athlete shows a positive test result, dump the athlete and presume that he/she is guilty. Simple. If you do not take that attitude and allow your own agencies like NADA to go about doing their work, then the country's federations deserve a ban. I hope India won't face the kind of thing that Russians faced. How embarrassing that a country that doesn't even know how to dope right, and never won anything with doping, faces all this bad publicity.

The clueless ways of our sports mandarins just rankle me. Why does our country, that certainly does not lack people of substance, always have such nitwits running it? Then there's the press, again filled with people of no substance. The fact that hardly a writer from our press has been writing carefully considered opinions on it, except for the retired(?) journalist KP Mohan, says a lot about what kind of things ail our country. The press/media is one of the biggest problems we have, that only keeps worsening.

[sameerph]

I hope India won't face the kind of thing that Russians faced. How embarrassing that a country that doesn't even know how to dope right, and never won anything with doping, faces all this bad publicity.

Absolutely and to think that our athletes may be doping just to qualify for Olympics !!! ( as is apparent in case of number of track and field athletes.

It is Narsinsh's case which baffles me. He is not a previous dope offender and has won a medal at the world championships last year where he would have been tested for sure. If his offense was intentional as CAS is saying does that mean that he was not confident of not repeating his WC result and therefore resorted to doping or that he might have doped before WC too and did not get caught ? Is it possible ? And if he did it intentionally this time why did he think that he will not get caught ?

Someone like Mugu who is aware of how this happens may throw some light or other can also chip in.