A New Doping Case in the Athletics World

Ever since the fight against doping in sports got under way, two of them were always on top - and I don't mean that in a good way. The two are cycling and athletics. Being sports that require both physical and psychological effort, they have always been the top priority for the World Anti-Doping Agency. (WADA)

Now is not the time or the place to make short recaps of the doping allegations and results concerning cycling and athletics, since it would take way too much space in the article. What is good to know, though, is the last "victim" of the anti-doping fight.

We're talking about South Africa's Hezekiel Sepeng, former silver medalist in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 in the 800m race. He was tested in May, last year, and has been found guilty of using norandrosterone, after the doctors detected traces of that substance in his blood. He justified himself then, by saying that there were independent circumstances for the result and that he was not guilty.

After the case was sent to the South African sports authorities, he was given the final sentence: Suspension from all athletic competition for a 2 year period. When hearing the news about his ban, he furiously declared that: "I'm so angry with the system. I know I did not take any drug, I feel cheated. If I was taking drugs I would have broken the world record. Everything I have won was just my talent and my hard work, I just want to tell those who believe in me that I will come back next year and make them happy".

WADA released another statement yesterday, in which another sanction, this time a crucial one, is to be applied during next week. Another athlete, Isaiah Nkuna, was banned for life out of all athletic competitions, after testing positive for illegal substances twice in the past 3 years.