Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs (Doping)

[Mugundan]

Suseendran is suspended and so too Dhanalakshmi Sekar, another Tamil Nadu athlete.
In fact, the complete team that clocked a national record of 43.37s in 4x100 in 2021 is under suspension or provisional suspension. The team comprised Suseendran, Hima Das, Dhanalakshmi and Dutee Chand.
Hopes of qualification for Tokyo and later for Wch in successive years were dashed. Then the Asian Games, too.
https://sportstar.thehindu.com/athletic ... 715853.ece
Even a couple of athletes considered for reserves in 4x100 in 2022 and 2023 are under suspension or provisional suspension: M. V. Jilna and Himani Chandel.

[Mugundan]

Incidentally, India has the second highest number of sanctioned athletes, ineligible at the moment in the world (as on 12 Nov) with 81, behind Russia's 94. Kenya is on 58.
What else can Nada do apart from stepping up testing? This is a topic that often comes up on the social media. There are no clear answers.

[Kumar]

Kind of surprised that Kenya is so high up. I am assuming long distance runners? Considering their natural advantages, I am surprised to see them in the list .

[Atithee]

^^What is the Kenyans’ natural advantage?

[Mugundan]

Kind of surprised that Kenya is so high up. I am assuming long distance runners? Considering their natural advantages, I am surprised to see them in the list .

Initially, I was also very disappointed and surprised that the Kenyans were regularly making the doping list. And that, too, at the highest level. Yes, theirs's is mainly from marathon, half marathon and other distance events. With support from AIU and WADA, they have taken some drastic steps to curb the tendency, but the numbers keep mounting.
This is a good article to get an idea about Kenyan doping (I still can't believe it, for, I have worshipped the likes of Kip Keino, Moses Kiptanui and Eliud Kipchoge, to name just a few of the array of stars they have).
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/worl ... 20monitors

[Mugundan]

Another piece, an excellent, well-researched one, is here. It goes deep into the root of the problem and comes to the conclusion money is the prime factor that drives the athletes towards dope (as most cases are in so many countries including in India where there is an incentive to fame, riches, jobs, privileges etc). It also gives us an idea about the talent Kenya has in distance running (mainly road running), where apparently the incentives are very attractive for a large pool of athletes who otherwise might find it difficult to earn a handsome annual packet. It also talks about corruption (familiar closer home to most of us!). One can only hope that the hike in detection would only lead eventually to drastic curbing of doping among such awesome talent. The Kenyans and the Ethiopians lead the charts among AIU RTP athletes, giving us an indication about how serious the problem has reached in these countries, considered the powerhouses still in distance running. (India has six AIU RTP athletes: Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable, Sreeshankar M., Abdulla Aboobacker, Jeswin Aldrin and Annu Rani). (The problem is severe in Indian athletics, too, though we do not have the kind of high calibre athletes the two countries have barring a handful)
https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/66223437

[prasen9]

Half of all athletes dope. It is human nature. So, not surprised. In the U.S. they figure out how to find new things and apply for a TIE ...

[Atithee]

Good luck counting on testing to stopping the doping. Not going to win this race.

[Mugundan]

Half of all athletes dope. It is human nature. So, not surprised. In the U.S. they figure out how to find new things and apply for a TIE ...

In India that figure should be around 80-85 percent at the elite and sub-elite level. However, most of those caught are from the younger lot, departmental or state-level. We have to focus more on the top-level rather than spread the resources thin.

[Mugundan]

Good luck counting on testing to stopping the doping. Not going to win this race.

Doping can never be eliminated. Everyone from top experts, anti-doping and the Olympic Movement to the bottom rung of fans and athletes are agreed on this. Newer and more complicated methods and substances are being brought onto the table. If the state also chips in (as it happened at least in the Russian case), then it would be very difficult to arrest.
Yet, doping could be curbed through stricter monitoring, increased testing and purposeful intelligence. Our NADA has got about half a dozen staff. How on earth can they be expected to handle anti-doping in a large country as ours?

[Atithee]

^^Because there is no real desire to do so, Mugu. Perhaps the thinking is why should Indian athletic program be holier than thou and win morally while losing to cheats everywhere.

[Kumar]

Keep forgetting that athletes even the ones at the top of the mountain are looking for that edge. In Baseball, Barry Bonds who felt disgruntled at all the attention that a much inferior Mark Mcgwire and Sosa got during their homerun chase also resorted to the same approach and eventually disgraced himself.

I do understand the perspective if athletes who has a very short window to maximize their earnings. I guess we have to be thankful that we as fans get to live vicariously through our sports heroes, but don’t have to go thru drill they are put thru.

[Mugundan]

Keep forgetting that athletes even the ones at the top of the mountain are looking for that edge. In Baseball, Barry Bonds who felt disgruntled at all the attention that a much inferior Mark Mcgwire and Sosa got during their homerun chase also resorted to the same approach and eventually disgraced himself.

I do understand the perspective if athletes who has a very short window to maximize their earnings. I guess we have to be thankful that we as fans get to live vicariously through our sports heroes, but don’t have to go thru drill they are put thru.

It is true we don't have to go through the "grind" of sportspersons. But each one chooses his/her profession. They would have known what it takes to reach the top. Some don't try to take short-cuts, some do, and pay the price eventually.

[Mugundan]

^^Because there is no real desire to do so, Mugu. Perhaps the thinking is why should Indian athletic program be holier than thou and win morally while losing to cheats everywhere.

This philosophy is there in India also (perhaps around the world). I have known and heard this argument for more than three decades, especially in Indian athletics. The reasoning continues. If we leave them alone, we will be ruining several young careers. At the world level, too, this happens. Athletes who were denied Olympic glory later gets the medals once it is proved (or admitted) that someone doped and won the gold or silver. Those denied several years ago, rightly point out that it is not the same thing: Getting an Olympic medal on the podium (and hearing the national anthem) and getting it ten or 15 years later at a function with a small gathering, where perhaps the audience might have to strain to recall what the athlete did so many years ago!
In this respect, I have often wondered why we don't hear about Japanese dopers (I will have to struggle to recall the last instance without Googling!) or why many of the European countries manage to keep the numbers to a minimum level. (France, Italy, Spain, Germany etc to be excluded from the list)

[Atithee]

^^Mugu, I was referring to India in my post. My position on doping is clear in this forum and I know I am alone in my thinking.