Dope Testers Show Up at Delhi State Athletics meet - most athletes BOLT!

"a steeplechase athlete kept running after crossing the finish line to evade dope testing."

🤣🤣🤣

This is an incredible story. Beyond my imagination. Almost all of the athletes at this relatively lower level meet are drugged. Is this really what our sport is everywhere, just with less openness that in India?

Used-syringe riddled toilets are a common sight at these lower level competitions.

Philosophy is this "Get a national medal, get a government job."

This sounds like a Monty Python sketch

this is an INSANE story. it should be front page of LRC and the thread should have over 200 posts.

"ONLY ONE participant in the final of the men’s 100 metres; a steeplechase athlete who kept running after crossing the finish line to evade dope testing; several winners skipping the medal ceremony as they were worried about being asked to give samples."

"The number of participants fell by half as news spread that National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) officials had dropped in, a day after a purported video clip of the washroom at the stadium showed piles of used syringes."

"Meanwhile, empty packets of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin (EPO) injection, which is used as a performance enhancing drug, could be seen in the washroom on Tuesday."

I agree, this is like a story from The Onion yet its real life.

Remember how many were hyping up India's showing at worlds? Hmm.

Bump this thread back to the top because of how insane this is. If 50% of random second tier track runners in India are doping, then we can only guess how many of the top world guys are finding ways to dope.

This exact kind of stuff was happening in Russia on the reg before they got banned.

My guess: between 99 and 99.99%.

This article also shows that they are doping extremely badly and obviously - people like Neeraj Chopra (who have been prolific since juniors) and even Murali Sreeshankar/Jeswin Aldrin might be a bit more trustworthy due to actually showing up at pro meets/overseas for a long period of time and probably not having enough brand backing (especially Chopra pre-Tokyo) to actually dope smartly like more popular athletes might do.

However, entities like India's new 4x4 squad are to be treated with utmost suspicion.

Chopra is probably fine. As an Olympic and world champion I have no doubt that he has not only been sufficiently tested but is more than likely in the top of the WADA out of competition testing pool.

That said, the above comment could not be more true. Especially when looking at the explosion of Indian men & women's middle distance times, an area of athletics where doping is known to have some of the greatest effect.

I've said it multiple times on letsrun threads about the rise of Indian athletics - doping is a huge problem, has been a big problem, and will only be a worse problem. Look at every other nation known for doping, state sponsored or not - India has each of their problems cranked to 10.

This will only get better before it gets worse, unfortunately.

Not surprising. If somebody had described this scenario two weeks ago and asked me where it would happen, I wouldn't have hesitated one second before naming India. There have been numerous articles in recent years detailing that top India athletes only show up at small meets and avoid national competitions, because they know where the testers will be. Obviously this one caught them by surprise.

The drug problem is massive in India. Naturally on this site there will be certain commenters who will gleefully point to this and attach everywhere. That's their game. That's their only game. Meanwhile I have posted this 2022 article (below) on many sites including here. It describes the situation very well.

But it leaves out some aspects. I have read other articles describing that the pressure on Indian athletes is so immense that it lends to overly aggressive coaches and burnt out athletes. Everybody is aware of the men's 4 x 400. The India women's 4 x 400 is nowhere right now even though those women were considered equally talented. The top juniors are all injured or burnt out. Rupal was a star at 2022 World U20 then didn't race once all year in 2023. The coaches in India reportedly take any promising short sprinter and force them upwards into the 400 because they know the relay is the greatest global opportunity:

outlookindia.com

Doping In India: Lure Of The Short Cut

Money and jobs is at the root of Indian athletes’ temptation to dope. Testing athletes and educating them are the only way the scourge can be controlled, if not eliminated.

Open link

There was a bike race in the US a pretty big one with a good number of pros in around 2007 or so. It was announced that USADA had chosen it as an event for testing. The number of people who did not show was big.

Their doping isnt very sophisticated,but ive read its extremely widespread.Im still not sure what happened to hima das,whether she was dsd,or doped,or injured.I remember another 400 meter runner they had,nirmala sheoran.She looked and talked like a man,but turns out she was on large doses of steroids,and got caught.

Him being tested by WADA does not make him clean. How can you see this happen and have that affirm your beliefs that he is not doping. Clearly, you have some parasocial fandom conformation bias.

Only Kenya is catching dopers.

Typical letsrun screed. Until proven otherwise, athletes tested in today's system are considered clean. Funny to see people talk about "innocent until proven guilty on this site" and then say stuff like that. How about you Keep Yourself Safe?

Are WA tests random OOC in India, or r they simply done when he has left India?