The latest dope

My first brush with 'Sportstar' was way back in the December of 2000. In fact, I remember the edition precisely, for it was the much heralded millennium edition ushering us into a new century of sporting achievements. One particular story stood out. The blood-red eyes of Ben Johnson adorned the story detailing his triumph and subsequent downfall at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Johnson created a media frenzy by upsetting the great Carl Lewis at his patented 100m dash, only to be found guilty of banned substance abuse and stripped of his olympic glory. Lewis would go on to cement his place in the Hall of fame, and Johnson would go on to cement his in the doping Hall of shame.

In an era of ever tightening noose of the WADA around illegal and banned substance intake in competitive sport, be it Athletics, Tennis, or even Cricket, it is a matter of shame when a country crosses the line, figuratively, time and again. India's record at the dope altar has been murky at best, with a number of top athletes being tested positive for banned substances, especially after a coveted victory in a competition of repute. This is not to say that the athletic world is scotch clean when it comes to clandestine intake of foreign substance to give an artificial boost to their performance, but repeated dope offences should make the IOA take notice of the grim situation in the athletic nurseries of India. To quote a profound philosopher-"One fault wipes away all good done."

The latest in a long line of failed dope tests are two female athletes, both members of the victorious 4x400m relay team at the Commonwealth and Asian games. Only a year back, India was jubilant at the prospect of its track & field arm catching up with the shooters and boxers at international events. The double victory in back-to-back events had raised hopes for an elusive Olympic medal in track. With only a year to go for the 2012 London olympics, when teams start to polish that odd nook in their strategy and shave off those few milliseconds that separate the winners from the also-rans, India would have to start afresh. The blame lies on both the SAI and the athletes- SAI for the slip up in laying down stringent conditions on the athletes under its umbrella and constant monitoring of their physical well-being in the off-season, and the athletes for being nonchalant/ignorant about the intake of banned substances. Time and again, there has been clamor from athletes that they are injected with banned substances without their knowledge, and often a simple flu medication leads to a failed dope tests. Well, flu is not endemic to India, and if no other country boasts of athletes failing dope tests regularly, perhaps India should follow their lead and learn from their system, and then implement it here.

The appalling sports infrastructure notwithstanding, Indian athletes brave other odds while trying to make a career in sports. In a country where sports stars are exclusive to the game of Cricket (Saina and Vijender are proving to be worthy exceptions), athletes often brave familial pressure and lack of job prospects to make it big in the arena of track & field, the foremost competitive sport in the world. It is well known that our genealogy has blessed us with slightly inferior stamina and muscle mass compared to athletes from Africa or the west, and athletes start to learn the fine prints of their sport when others around the globe are already competing internationally. It is therefore the duty of the IOA to ensure that sports medicine be taught to our athletes right when they are being inducted into their sport. This will surely lower the number of failures, if not ameliorate it altogether.

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