Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs (Doping)

[Mugundan]

What is this comment about Poovaman being out only for three months for a positive test?

I wonder why she could not repeat the timing of the Olympics to not get caught? Is it because the traces remain in the body for an undetermined amount of time that varies randomly and so perfect evasion is not possible by timing the doping?

MHA is a specified stimulant which can attract a minimum suspension in certain cases. This verdict, however, was a surprise to many.
Here are more latest details:
https://sportstar.thehindu.com/athletic ... 787826.ece

[Mugundan]

Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, former CWG medal winner and World junior medallist, in dope net. Suspended for three years.
Indian athletes are getting caught by domestic agency as well as AIU at regular intervals. Time for Govt to step in and take concrete measures to avoid further embarrassment.
https://www.thehindu.com/sport/athletic ... 819004.ece

[prasen9]

They passed some sort of law. But, that is rather toothless?

[Mugundan]

Now, an Indian para athlete is caught doping, may lose CWG medal. It could be the powerlifter, and India may lose a gold from the overall tally.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/sports/news ... rall-tally

[Kumar]

But not unexpected.



India is #3 wrt dope cheats in the world.

We are still number 3 ! Come on guys , u can do better

[Mugundan]

Now, Shivpal Singh, javelin thrower, is suspended. No surprise there. There should be a few more waiting in queue
https://sportstar.thehindu.com/athletic ... 959332.ece

[prasen9]

If I remember correctly, this guy varied between 75-76 and 85-86 without any consistency. So, 2019 marks were most possibly doped. Wonder why he was doping now?

[Mugundan]

If I remember correctly, this guy varied between 75-76 and 85-86 without any consistency. So, 2019 marks were most possibly doped. Wonder why he was doping now?

Dopers show that kind of inconsistency in performance. He did 86.23 in Doha for a personal best and Asian championships silver in 2019. Then in 2021, he started off with 81.63 in March and was down to 77.31 before going to Tokyo Olympics where he finished 27th in qualification with 76.40m!
Athletes often begin their stacking in off-season (Oct-Dec). He was caught in Sept last week. He might have started early to get the World championships qualification off his back or else to prepare for the 2022 season which was packed with WCh and CWG.
Whatever it was, he never really inspired confidence among those who follow the sport. As you said, he did 86 one day and went back to 76 on another day!
This year (2022) has seen NADA being very active and improve in its testing regimen. The result is already leading national-level athletes are serving suspensions or else waiting for their doping cases to be adjudicated.

[prasen9]

So the check that found him out was a random check and not one after a meet?

On another note, Poovamma's ban is now two years. Article

[jayakris]

This year (2022) has seen NADA being very active and improve in its testing regimen. The result is already leading national-level athletes are serving suspensions or else waiting for their doping cases to be adjudicated.

This is good to see. About time... Actually, way past time!

[arjun2761]

Obviously not a fan of cheating (and getting caught) but I think a lot of top athletes in athletics (and many other sports) push to the edge of the legal line on supplements which enhance performance. Not against our athletes doing the same to at least level the playing field against who they compete against.

[prasen9]

One anynymous survey said 50% of the athletes do drugs, players admitted when promised complete anonymity. We need to play by the rules. Push the supplement, TIE regime to its limit without cheating. That is even playing field. And, if the authorities are doing things right protective of the health of the athletes too.

[Mugundan]

It is believed top-level athletes resort to doping using sophisticated drugs that cannot be detected. If that be the case, nothing can be done until that drug is detected by a research team like Don Catlin did back in 2002 and 2003.
Various supplements do contain banned substances. Manufacturers are beiieved to be deliberately pushing such substances. Now, there are new substances like Ostarine and GW 1516 etc (SARMs, selective androgen receptor modulators) that are yet to be approved for human consumption but are being used by athletes. All these are banned. All labs test for all the banned substances except for EPO and hGH that are tested for in select numbers.
Of late more and more middle and distance runners in India are failing tests for dabepoetin (kind of EPO that increases endurance).
Leading Indian athletes have also avoided getting caught for many years, but now there seems to be a change. The AIU (the integrity arm of the World Athletics, formerly IAAF) is testing more Indian athletes in India and abroad and our own NADA is testing more top-level athletes.
It is pointless to imagine that all leading athletes of the world are doping and getting away with it while Indians are way behind in drugs. With the advent of 'Russian experts' in the 90s, India is able to match other countries!
The need, however, is more targeted testing at home. Most of the Indian athletes set fabulous records at home, but fail at the world level. Why do they fail is a question that the authorities have to find out!
If international athletes are using drugs that cannot be detected then why do athletes like Salwa Naser and Christian Coleman get sanctioned for "whereabouts" failures?
If known sophisticated drugs are available in the market, the Indian athletes can also get them. Today, Ostarine , Ligandrol etc are available online though it is prohibited from being distributed in any country in the world.

[prasen9]

It is believed top-level athletes resort to doping using sophisticated drugs that cannot be detected. If that be the case, nothing can be done until that drug is detected by a research team like Don Catlin did back in 2002 and 2003.

Mugu, you have raised some very good questions. What can be done is to have samples from athletes stored for as long as feasible and tested when new techniques come out. Currently, the statute-of-limitations is eight years. Make that infinity. However, it becomes an issue because now you have to store these samples forever and how well we can store them before they disintegrate, etc. And the more sophisiticated storage technology you use the better the samples remain after aging but it will start costing a lot. Maybe some sort of tax on the top meets where instead of large amounts of prize money, a small amount is collected and used to fund anti-doping work like storage, testing, etc.

[prasen9]

It is pointless to imagine that all leading athletes of the world are doping and getting away with it while Indians are way behind in drugs. With the advent of 'Russian experts' in the 90s, India is able to match other countries!

Russia leads the world in athletes caught doping. Is it possible that the Russians are not that savvy? Here are the numbers for the TUEs:U.S. and Australia lead the number of TUEs. Notice how many the U.S. gets approved and how few the Russians. Are the Russians so much behind in medication, health, and therapy that they do not have that much need for TUEs? The U.S. has figured out how to game the system much better because they pay attention to details. I do not know if these small numbers matter or if they are significant. But, this is what I think.

Although, there was a recent study that came out with the statement that the number there was not much correlation between TUEs and winning medals.

I think half the athletes of the world dope and/or push the envelope in different ways but we are not that savvy. I also think that all leading athletes of the world are not doing it but maybe the poorer countries are not that savvy and are getting caught more. Countering this would be the fact that Italy and France get a lot of folks caught doping too and they are not poor.