Guwahati: “The only way to compete is clean. The only way to play is fair! I urge all athletes in India to fight against the menace of doping and make an effort to promote dope-free sports,” reads a tweet from Olympic bronze medallist and newly-crowned world champion Lovlina Borgohain.
On April 1, Tokyo silver medallist weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu tweeted: “Sports is a means to promote positive values of fairness, equity and respect. Do not harm the integrity of sports by engaging in unfair means. #SayNoToDoping, today & everyday!”
The message is loud and clear from the star athletes. But has it fallen on deaf ears for elite athletes caught in the dope net or is it a case of lack of awareness?
Well, the second can be ruled out, at least for now.
The National Sports Federations (NSFs) joined hands with the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to conduct awareness campaigns for their respective athletes equally at the elite, age group and grassroots levels.
But it seems a classic case of too little, too late.
Last year, one of the country’s top 400m women athletes was involved in a cat-and-mouse game with dope testers after her sudden improvement in timings caught the attention of a global anti-doping watchdog.
Dutee Chand, the country’s fastest woman and a double silver medallist at the last Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, failed an out-of-competition dope test and has now been provisionally suspended. The 26-year-old’s ‘A’ sample (urine) in the test taken on December 5, 2022, showed traces of Andarine and Ostarine–among the most popular selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) used as performance-enhancing drugs by athletes–and Ligandrol.
They come under other anabolic agents in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list and are prohibited at all times.
But let us stick to the Northeast.
Olympian and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Dipa Karmakar, whose Produnova vault in women’s gymnastics made her a household name across the nation, has recently been handed a retrospective 21-month ban after testing positive for Higenamine, a beta-2 agonist, which means it is prohibited for consumption at all times.
Dipa was penalised by the International Testing Agency (ITA), an independent non-profit organisation that handles anti-doping test procedures for the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). Her samples were collected out-of-competition on October 11, 2021, and the ban runs until July 10, 2023.
The latest to join the list of dope-tainted athletes is Manipuri weightlifter Sanjita Chanu, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion. On Tuesday, the 2011 Asian championship medallist was handed a four-year ban after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid Drostanolone Metabolite by a panel formed by the NADA. The substance is on WADA’s prohibited list.
Sanjita’s dope sample was collected at the National Games in Gujarat in October, last year when she finished second to Mirabai in the women’s 49kg category.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that the diminutive Manipuri weightlifter has been suspended for failing a dope test. In 2018, she was handed a ban by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) after she tested positive for the anabolic steroid testosterone before the US World Championships in November 2017. However, in 2020 the International Weightlifting Federation dropped the charge against her due to “non-conformities” in the handling of her urine sample. The IWF had cleared her name based on a recommendation from the WADA.
So, does it mean that athletes are absolved of the menace of doping or is it only the federation’s headache? There are numerous athletes in elite programmes, but why do only a selected few fall prey to doping?
EastMojo reached out to a number of present and former athletes, who have represented the country at some of the biggest competitions – both at the continental and global level and equivocally feel that the onus is on the athletes to be mindful of their food habits and medicines during their careers.
“It’s very easy to put the blame on fellow athletes or others for contaminating your food or prescribing a painkiller. Did you care to ask if that’s safe? Most athletes in the elite camps are under monitoring and random tests are conducted in their hostels so it’s not easy to escape,” a former Commonwealth Games medallist boxer said.
“If you remember, in the build-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, a wrestler had complained of his food being contaminated allegedly by a seasoned wrestler in the same weight category after the younger one demanded a trial? What did we learn from that episode? The wrestler eventually was punished for four years. Similarly, in athletics, we have several cases each year. So where does the problem lie?” said another athlete-turned high-performance manager from Haryana.
She added, “Raising awareness is important and it is being done by all sports federations but it’s also equally important for athletes to understand that they are cheating themselves at the end of the day if they fall for performance-enhancing drugs. The irony is some feel that with age catching up, there is stiff competition and such drugs will help win a medal and get settled with a lucrative job. It is time to change that mindset,” she added.
In 2020, during the first phase of the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown, an Olympic medallist housed at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala explained in detail how random tests are conducted even amid the lockdown.
“Every alternate day, our kitchen was monitored, but the routine was truly unpredictable…Covid tests were conducted by professionals but even in those circumstances, dope tests were being conducted randomly. You plan to sleep one lazy afternoon, and suddenly there’s a knock on your door, and you are being tested. It’s good to have such tests because you also want to keep yourself updated before such a major competition,” the athlete had said.
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For Sanjita, who returned to the weightlifting arena after a four-year hiatus, the dreams of making it to the Asian Games and the Paris Olympics have hit a roadblock. Even if she manages to come out clean, she will miss the qualifying events.
While the 29-year-old is yet to open up on her plans of challenging the verdict, the question remains the same: are the national sporting federations falling short in raising awareness on doping or are the athletes taking things lightly?
Also Read | Manipur weightlifter Sanjita Chanu fails dope test; gets four-year ban