Drug abuse in sports goes beyond Sharapova
Tennis star Maria Sharapova's acknowledgement that she failed a doping test is devastating for her supporters and also casts a long and dark shadow on her sport. Tennis has managed to steer clear of doping scandals which have tainted many reputations across sporting, national and even socio-economic boundaries — from Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson to American cycler lance Armstrong to Argentine football legend Diego Maradona. This could have been because tennis is considered to have a relatively lax anti-doping framework. Also, there have been allegations that sportspersons in this field, who tested previously positive for banned drugs, were either penalised off the books or completely let off the hook. Sharapova's admission of guilt changes all of that, as she becomes the first premier star to fail a doping test in the history of tennis. Before her, 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic and Serbia's Viktor Troicki had been suspended on similar charges, but Sharapova is in a different league.
The case against Sharapova is still being investigated and we do not know the quantum of punishment she will face and if that will be the death knell for the 28-year-old's tennis career or if she may be able to script a turnaround later. However, it will be fair to say that she doesn’t really have a strong defence —that she wasn't aware of the new rules. Starting January 1, the World Anti-Doping Agency had added the drug Meldonium to the list of banned substances, but Sharapova, who had been legally using the drug since 2006, hadn't made the consequent changes to her medical regime. To the layman, this may seem like a minor oversight, but in the world of international sports, where elite players have a battery of coaches, doctors, managers and lawyers to ensure that exactly these problems do not occur, this is, a major lapse that indicates recklessness and possibly mala fide intent. As a matter of routine, athletes are expected to scrutinise every particle that goes into their system — be it an innocuous cough drop or an exotic food item — a fact that Sharapova herself underlines. Moreover, Meldonium had been on WADA's watchlist for a year before it was banned, and it is difficult to believe that no one on Team Sharapova was aware of the slippery slope.
In the 10 weeks since Meldonium was banned, six other athletes have also tested positive for the drug, including an Olympic gold-winning ice dancer and a world champion speed skater — pointing to large-scale abuse of the drug, which is what WADA had feared. An anti-ischemsic drug, Meldonium ensures that the heart isn't deprived of oxygen, by increasing blood flow to the organs. Athletes take advantage of this effect to push up endurance levels and improve their recovery time from training and competition. Sharapova says that she only used the drug for her heart condition, but even then her decade-long use of the medicine has raised suspicion. Some of her counterparts are wondering aloud if she had an edge over them because of the drug. Even if that was the case, the rules will not apply retroactively. But the damage to Sharapova’s record has been done. Her only saving grace is that she has taken responsibility for her failures, instead of hiding behind the arbitration process.