KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — As an athlete, you have worked tirelessly for years in search of glory. But imagine the honours due to you being ‘hijacked’ by a dope cheat who won on the strength of performance-enhancing drugs rather than real talent.

Despite the best efforts of international sports federations, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), Olympic Movement and our very own Anti-doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas) to combat this menace, the use of drugs in sports has never stopped.

It is very saddening when even the grassroots and Malaysian Games (Sukma) athletes are involved in doping offences, with the latest being a 17-year-old sprinter from the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) who was suspended for four years after testing positive for anabolic steroids methasterone and oxymetholone.

Recently, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspended the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) for a year, while national weightlifters were banned from participating in next year’s Tokyo Olympics following a series of doping offences in 2018.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) Medical and Anti-doping Committee chairman Datuk Dr SS Cheema, in a recent interview with Bernama, said to eradicate doping, heavier punishment, on top of the Wada sanctions, should be meted out to offenders.

"It is very miserable to see even Sukma (Malaysian Games) athletes are tested positive; it means the anti-doping awareness and education did not reach the ground. This has to stop somewhere for the sake of the NSA (National Sports Association) and the country. Heavier punishment, over and above the Wada sanctions, must be handed out.

"For example, not selecting them in the team for any competitions to send a strong signal to other young athletes. But not to forget the root of this problem, the suppliers. The athletes (who tested positive) must cooperate fully in the hearing and the panel must investigate the suppliers thoroughly. If we let off the suppliers, they will continue to spoil the other athletes and sports,” he added.

Besides safeguarding the athletes and fair play, anti-doping measures and awareness are crucial to save the dope cheats’ health and sporting career.

According to Wada, the use of steroids can cause shrinking of testicles, breast growth, decrease in sperm production, reduced sex drive and impotence for men, while there are risks of deeper voice, enlarged clitoris, abnormal menstrual cycle, and excessive facial and body hair for women.

Wada pointed out that the use of other popular drugs such as masking agent, erythropoietin (EPO), stimulants, human growth hormone (hGH) and narcotics (like heroin and morphine to forget the pain) has its own side effects on the athletes. Prolonged use of banned anabolic steroids and stimulants may even lead to death.

The Malaysian government had signed the Copenhagen Declaration on Anti-Doping in Sport in 2003 and accepted the Wada-run World Anti-Doping Code in 2007, which led to the formation of Adamas.

Malaysia also became a state party to the Convention Against Doping in Sport, an inter-governmental instrument set up and run by Unesco in 2007, becoming the second country in Asia to sign the treaty. The deep commitment shown by the Malaysian government needs follow-up actions to be executed to the fullest extent.

But it was learnt that certain levels of bureaucratic red tape and lack of support continued to hinder the national anti-doping body from achieving greater impact. Adamas is said to be facing shortage of staff and inadequate funding, falling prey to a bureaucratic maze that seems to end nowhere.

Former Adamas director Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz, the founding father of the agency in 2007, said the dope-busting agency should be made an independent body as had been the intention, as a signatory to the code and the convention.

"The reality is Adamas needs to be an independent body, and KBS (Youth and Sports Ministry) has been working on this for some time without really making a breakthrough, as far as I know. I trust they are still pursuing this because they know our ongoing commitments, otherwise we could be seen as merely paying lip-service.

"With all that has been done so far, we should expect a resolution to the situation very soon, because we cannot expect anything to get significantly better, with things as they stand. Either you do it properly or don’t do it at all. This is a vital component to protect the integrity of sports and the honest athletes,” he said.

He said it was not merely an issue of awareness and education but also one of integrity, as public funds could be wasted for supporting athletes who eventually got caught for doping.

He said in terms of sample collectors, Adamas has sufficient trained assignment-based staff for deployment around the country, but it has to be enhanced purposefully in terms of the education, intelligence and investigative aspects.

"Yes, Adamas may not need such a big number of staff, but it must be strengthened legally and administratively to fight the war against the doping cheats and suppliers. They have no issues in sample collection, organising the analytical tests with the Wada-accredited laboratories, and results management, up to coordinating with the NSAs for sanctioning and disciplinary action.

"But there are issues that need bolstering, mainly on intelligence and investigations, as well as educating and monitoring the athletes and coaches by working together with relevant enforcement agencies in health, education, crime-prevention and all the other involved parties,” he said.

Dr Ramlan retired on Tuesday after 30 years of service in sports science, sports medicine and administration, including leading the National Sports Institute (NSI) and National Sports Council (NSC).

"We must also realise that this is not merely a high-performance sports problem but will lead to a public health issue as youths will indulge in doping just to look good, as can be seen with the abuses at many gyms across the country,” he said. — Bernama