OPINION: Banning athletes is not a long-term solution to end doping

You’re an athlete, and things are going pretty well.

But as hard as you’re training and racing, you just can’t seem to break through. Other athletes are always quicker.

So you decide to give yourself an advantage. You’ll take some EPO. It has worked for other athletes, and maybe it will work for you.

Perhaps you even convince yourself that everyone ahead of you is cheating, and it’s the only way to win.

What’s the next step? Who do you speak to? Where do you find EPO? How do you figure out how much of it to take and when, to try and avoid detection?

It’s not like you can just walk into a pharmacy and walk out with EPO. And even if you could, you still have no idea what you’re doing.

How many athletes who are caught doping have followed this route? I imagine it’s very few of them.

For the most part, surely, athletes are approached by people who already have access to performance enhancing substances and can put them in touch with a medical expert who is willing to advise them on what to do.

Find the suppliers

I don’t know how this works in real life, but in the movies, the cops are not as interested in punishing drug users as they are in finding dealers.

It’s a strategy that makes sense. Cut the drug off at the supplier and you solve the problem. Throw the users behind bars and the dealers will just find more of them.

A friend of mine suggested this week that athletes who are caught doping should be given a significantly reduced sanction if they provide sufficient information about people who are higher up the chain.

This is a great idea. At first, it might seem wrong to let people off lightly for cheating, but if we look at the bigger picture, the current approach just isn’t working. If anything, the scourge of doping in sport is getting worse.

It was disappointing this week to hear that Nkosikhona Mhlakwana had tested positive for EPO after finishing fourth at the Two Oceans ultra-marathon in Cape Town earlier this year.

Of course, he has been suspended (for three years), but honestly, it feels like banning him is the equivalent of removing a single drop of water from a swimming pool.

Scared to talk?

In the movies, the users often don’t want to talk, which is understandable. They don’t want to be taken out by people who are higher up the ladder. And that might also be the case for athletes. They’re probably scared to spill the beans.

However, anti-doping bodies need to find a way to get athletes like Mhlakwana (and the many others who have been caught) to start talking.

Athletes are not buying EPO at the local pharmacy. They are being approached.

Find the suppliers and we’ll get somewhere in solving the long-term problem.