C/wealth Games Of Scandals: Doping And Corruption Charges Mar Delhi 2010
Every Indian who was part of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games can proudly declare that the 2010 Games was a huge success, though the host accepted there were ‘minor’ challenges to the build up, during and after the Games.
Minor challenges as they prefer to call them, but in actual sense the challenges rubbed mud on the Games.
For instance; about six athletes testing positive, to banned drugs, there was an allegation of corruption against some members of the Local Organising Committee, LOC, while the Pakistan Hockey Federation, PHF and National captain, Zeeshan Ashraf claimed the home crowd was hostile.
The last was more like a reminiscence of the Mumbai attack of 2008, which allegedly affected the performance of Pakistan’s hockey team at the Games, that ended last week.
May be the Sports Minister, M.S. Gill had the premonition, when he drew a comparison with the shaky build-up to the Games with a typical Indian monsoon wedding. An Indian monsoon wedding normally has a rough preparation but at the end of the day everything falls in place.
Ironically, the hosts told the Commonwealth of nations that everything was right to the build-up of the Games. But, the aforementioned problems; corruption, delay in getting the venues ready and hygiene problems at the Games Village marred the competition.
After overcoming the teething problems, but not with some elite athletes pulling out of the Games, it started with a colourful opening ceremony, records were broken, new ones were created, accidents occurred, toilets pipes blocked as a result of used contraceptives and a host of others.
Team Nigeria were worst hit with the doping scandal as three of her athletes tested positive to banned stimulants. First to fall was Oludamola Osayomi, who was stripped of the gold medal she won in the women’s 100m.
But before she was stripped of her medal, she asked for the B sample analysis of the test, which also failed and she finally bowed out a guilty athlete. But in Osayomi’s defense, President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN Solomon Ogba said the athlete took the banned stimulant, Methylexanemine to cure her tooth ache, which the body claimed it was aware of.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA recently loosened the classification of Methylexanemine, the stimulant found in Osayomi’s system for next year to the “specified stimulant†list, which covers drugs that are more prone to inadvertent use and can carry reduced penalties.
Reports say Osayomi is now undergoing rehabilitation in the United States of America, USA after being evicted from the Games Village before the curtains fell on the Games.
As Team Nigeria were beginning to get over the stripping of the gold medal and eviction of Osayomi from the Games Village, the news filtered in that another athlete, Gabriel Okon, who came sixth in the Men’s 110 Hurdles event also tested positive to another banned substance.
Okon appeared fully aware that he actually indulged in the use of banned substance and didn’t raise eyebrows when he was told that he tested positive to the same substance as that of Osayomi.
Call it a season of failed dope test for Team Nigeria at the Games and you would not be wrong. Another athlete, Folashade Abugan made Nigeria to lose two silver medals barely 48 hours after the team lost a precious gold.
Abugan, after testing positive to Testosterone Prohormone, waived the right to have her ‘B’ sample analysed, confirming that the silver medal she won in the 400m event and the relay silver medals won by Team Nigeria were withdrawn.
Another positive dope test happened though not in Team Nigeria’s camp. This time, it was the host, India who added to the negative lists of the Games, which draw nations from the former British colonies to Delhi 2010.
An unknown athlete, 20km walker, Rani Yadav who tested positive for anabolic steroid: Nandrolone, but she has also been provisionally suspended. Twenty-year-old Rani asked for her B sample to be tested, if found guilty she can be banned for a period of up to two years. There are two more cases of doping, which marred the Games.
Athletes, officials and foreign journalists, who covered the event may have returned to their various countries, India never gave up on their ability to host a successful Games. However, the LOC is still being probed over alleged corruption charges.
—Adebobola Alawode
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