Quest for incentives a major reason for doping
NEW DELHI: The cases of wrestler Narsingh Yadav and shot-putter Inderjeet Singh, in the dock for allegedly consuming performanceenhancing drugs, prove that the thrust for performance isn’t just confined to on-field action.
Since huge financial gains are at stake in the form of advertisements and financial rewards from the government, athletes leave no stone unturned to up performance.
Doping isn’t new, but failing dope tests with less than a fortnight to the Olympics raises questions. Have athletes learnt to outclass the system?
“If athletes are being caught, it’s because of the indigenous system of taking pills. They may be competing at the international level, but there is no scientific backing,” a nationallevel coach told HT.
In the past, top athletes have hardly repeated their performance at home on the world stage, where there is more vigorous testing, and instead prefer low-key events like continental championships and Commonwealth events.
At the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, national champion and Asian Games gold medallist Neelam J Singh was caught for taking a stimulant, which cast a shadow on her performance. She was banned for two years, and even though she denied any wrongdoing, it’s not known why she took the stimulant for an event where she wasn’t a medal hope. There is an unwritten law that federations want athletes to win more medals. Perhaps this could be a reason why the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) recalled controversial foreign coach Yuri Ogorodnik to train the 4x400m relay team for Rio.
In 2011, Ogorodnik was sacked after six top athletes preparing for the 2012 London Olympics failed dope tests. Leading 400m runner Anu Raghavan is fighting the AFI policy which allegedly supports non-performers, and has gone to court. She was replaced by Ashwini Akkunji in the 4x400m Rio-bound relay team despite having a better record.
The AFI claimed Ashwini was better in baton exchange, which is being disputed by Raghavan. “The federation has dropped me because I refused to train under Ogorodnik. Since Ashwini is training under him, my performance is being ignored,” she said.
Last year, seven top lifters preparing for the Olympics failed out-of-competition tests at the national camp in Patiala. They claimed adulterated food supplements were the reason for the failed tests. The incident should have been probed by the ministry, but there was hardly any noise.