Golden girls drop the baton

Still,picking the pieces after this doping disaster looks distinctly difficult,and Akkunji’s steep crash down from glory to shame reduces India’s rare Olympics potential in athletics to dust. On an immediate basis,Akkunji’s recently acquired funders Olympic Gold Quest have swiftly put her on provisional suspension,owing to their strict anti-doping policy. Five negative tests since November had sought to present her clean credentials to her supporters,but one red-mark on her career-card was enough for OGQ to zip their money-purse.

Her image of galloping over hurdles with strong,steady strides was considered iconic,making her the face of Indian athletics,but even proof of an apparently benign intent before taking contaminated supplements which yields a positive result will be shown little mercy.

A June 8 proposal release from Court for Arbitration of Sport is aiming to disallow any athlete with any doping sanction — not just two-year suspensions — from participating at the next Olympic Games,with London going for no-tolerance,although USOC has opposed it. The sullied reputation apart,there will be serious doubts on Akkunji ever making it to London.

Weak self-defense

Those involved in the day-to-day business of sports medicine will tell you that one in four supplements tend to be contaminated. However Akkunji’s self-defense has bordered on pleading all through the last five days when she has stood up for both team-mate Mandeep and her Ukrainian coaches. “We’re not stupid to risk this when we know we will be tested,” she urged again on the eve of her own positive test being declared,repeating that the only foul play could have been in the ingredients of supplements which manufacturers knowingly refused to mention. As theories go,this one certainly won’t walk on water,though with no heads rolling in coaching ranks,the athletes are doomed to bear the entire brunt of the scandal.

Renowned long-jump coach Mike Powell,who was in Mumbai on Monday — ironically pitching for a sport with its credibility in shreds — said,“It sounds like a honest mistake,though a mistake it is when you consider these are elite athletes. The supplements might have been WADA-approved but they could be tainted. These things can happen,but if the coaches are responsible for this,you need to find them and punish them.”

There were also suggestions of serious counselling for the tainted athletes,for rarely has India seen a glory-to-ashes story within such a short term.