Drugs in sport are a menace. In this Olympic year we have seen a spike in the incidence of athletes getting caught or being accused of premeditated and systematic doping to gain an unfair advantage. This is now so out of hand that sports authorities in the face uncontrollable drug abuse can only try to chase dopers with the limited means available to them. Cynics say that the authorities are parading a few malefactors before the Olympics, simply as a tactic to show how diligent they are at catching cheats when in reality, they are failing because their whole approach is ineffective.

Whether this is the case or not, there is undeniable and overwhelming evidence of a drugs epidemic, the surface of which is only being scratched. Are the authorities' efforts doomed before they start? Are they merely playing catch-up with drug sophisticates? Does anyone really believe that a few big names outed as an example to those who are toying with the idea of taking the plunge (literally) will have any kind of impact? Does anyone think the chances of cleaning up sport once and for all are realistic? The answer is no. We are well past the point of no return and the problem should be addressed on that basis.

A new event has emerged, a new race begun, one that will never be recorded in the record books or glorified in a trophy case. This race is more sinister than the average person could imagine, it pits the creativity of many different interests; corrupt medical professionals, chemists, coaches, marketers, media and big business against sorry little sports bodies in a mad dash to destruction. It's a competition between the cheats with unlimited resources and the cheat police with hardly any. It's an event open to all-comers - to qualify all you have to do is be an average athlete and simply decide to cheat. But unlike any other sport, neither of these two ‘competitors’ loses. The only loser in this sorry mess is the honest athlete who is roundly victimised because he refuses to be part of it.

Most people are never confronted with the terrible choice of taking performance enhancing drugs; it's just not an issue for the average person. Nor is it for the average sport like Karate. It's easy then for us to ignore it or raise half an eyebrow when 5 Aussie cyclists are implicated or when the fastest man in the world is thrown out of sprinting on his ear for "bogging up". But imagine how tempting it would be if you were convinced that you could increase your chances of winning by sticking a needle in your arm and get away with it? Especially if your opponents were already doing it. Imagine if you were 4 or 5 needles away from the media exposure and glory you crave, a few pathetic injections away from guaranteed financial rewards that will set you up for life.

What if you got into sport, like most people - with the best of intentions? What if you were a proud, hard competitor who represented your country in a major sport and got there by the sacrifice of your family and the sweat of your brow - then it came to you. What are your options? You are a ‘clean’ Olympic athlete surrounded by cheats and you are faced with the choice of doping-up with little or no chance of getting caught. Why should you stay clean and lose?

The pressure is enormous, the shameful drug cycle is now so twisted that the bad guys have craftily redefined what drugs are by tossing words like ‘recovery enhancement’ and 'nutritional supplement' into the fray, and they have thrown it open to debate in an effort to sideline the cheating issue. Now, with the aid of the legal profession, they can justify their cheating very eloquently. They do this so well that the prevailing mentality among high level sportspeople is “Prove it! – I’m innocent until you prove otherwise” and even if they are found to have been taking things, they will argue the toss by pointing the finger at the under-resourced testing officials or call into question the fairness of the procedure itself!

Why should Karate people be bothered with all this? Is it realistic for an unregulated sport/art like ours to speak up about such a subject when it seems to be the domain of the professionals? - Yes it is.

Just because our champions are not household names and just because we don’t make a living out of competing, doesn’t preclude us from putting forward our opinion. The Olympic Games just happens to be the pinnacle of achievement in the public eye, but there are other sports as well and regardless of the size of the group or the importance of the event, drug takers are cheats, all of them, period. So let’s face it, this is a one-way street and with all the good will in the world, with all the counter-testing regimes presently used and being developed, we will never be free of it. So what do we do? Well, they could run a tournament or a series of Grand Prix events just for drug cheats. Then by definition they wouldn't be cheats. It could be known as the Olympic Games, exactly the same name by which it is known today. Not much would change, except that substances to enhance overall performance would be used openly in addition to the usual physical and motivational programs already in place. The best competitors would be faster, higher and longer than everyone else in the world – they’d have all the trappings of success and maybe bring on their own death in the process - that's what they want isn't it?

By contrast, a new "Natural Olympics" would pursue excellence without chemicals. This would be a huge shift and maybe it’s too radical an idea to actually happen, but drugs are a huge problem, the truth has been skewed. There already is a precedent for this, Bodybuilding. In terms of drugs, the only difference between Bodybuilding and other sports is that the outcomes are so obvious that it was exposed early. As a result, the sport of Bodybuilding now has many premier events that are declared natural or drug free.

Karate is a non-unified minor sport and groups like JKA who call themselves Budoka, compete when they do under Budo principles. Thankfully as far as we know the drug plague hasn't touched us yet, at least we hope not. Yet we don't need to look far to see how the Karate community takes this. The WKF which is made up of lots of sports Karate sub-groups states in its charter “The World Karate Federation deplores the use of pharmaceutical substances in order to gain an advantage in competition.” Their policy comes complete with a range of penalties, the most severe being a lifetime ban. Sport Karate is taken very seriously by some and for many (not JKA) it is a sport and as the pressure to win increases, as the competitive stakes rise and as financial rewards mount, people look outside the nine dots to fast-track their preparation. This could be by honest means, say a new training routine, or a different approach to rest and recovery, or the cheaters way, by taking drugs.

We are not blind, the menace of drugs in Karate is absolutely on the cards. Right now it is rarely, if ever discussed in JKA circles because we just wouldn’t entertain it. But things change. As we go forward, we look for a fair advantage the only way - through training. We also behave like good parents and demonstrate good habits in the hope that we make can make a positive impact on the ones looking up to us. In the end though, it’s up to the individual. The choice, if it is ever entertained, is simple; take drugs and go to your grave knowing that you are a cheat - or don’t.

Send comments or feedback on this eDitorial to talkback

Back to eDitorials

Home

Copyright © Japan Karate Association of Australia (Victoria) Limited 2004