Written by “Wherever there is power, greed, and money, there is corruption.” ― Ken Poirot
Media coverage and money have turned sport into a ‘life-and-death’ situation where cheating to get ahead becomes more and more attractive. Cheating in sport has become an artform of creative innovation, intricately designed schema hell-bent on securing ‘a win’. Match-fixing, illegal betting, doping, substitutions, beating salary caps can’t be arranged by just one person, these arrangements are complex and coordinated and generally involve many perpetrators. Sadly, it takes a network of blinkered people willing to look the other way, a finely developed culture of covert behaviour and fear of retribution for whistleblowing.
Doping in weightlifting is currently under the spotlight, The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been conducting investigations into numerous instances of corruption, revealed initially by whistle-blowers. These incidences include the use of “undetectable” growth hormones, transfusions to clean an athlete’s system, ‘stand-ins’ to provide clean urine samples for dopers, as well as synthetic urinary devices to swap clean urine for dirty urine. It has come to light through these investigations that some national federations paid bribes to cover up doping violations, and corrupt officials warned offenders in advance of testing plans.
Reports from WADA expose that between in the years between 2012 and 2016 an unnamed high-ranking member of the IWF was paid $5 million by “Russian entities” “to cover up allegations of doping by Russian weightlifters”. It was revealed that during the period of investigation, nearly 200 doping samples were concealed. This corruption extended to the discovery in October of a deficit of $3 million in fine money that was never actually paid.
Among the hundreds of sanctions imposed on dopers by the IWF, only six are for the use of growth hormones, with a seventh case ongoing. The athletes currently under investigation are accused of using growth hormones and are from Turkey and Armenia (2018), Poland (2016), and three Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallists from China.
Australian rules footballers were also embroiled in scandal a few years ago over the use of growth hormones allegedly supplied by scientists. Aussie rules was the first sport in Australia to test for growth hormones.
WADA’s Operation Extra suggested “the existence of a pervasive culture of mismanagement and abuse within the sport of weightlifting, just as the McLaren Report indicated in June, investigations were hindered by “the culture of fear and silence” within the sport.
How Doping Corruption in Weightlifting Works | The Sport Digest
What leads to corruption in sports? – The Sports Financial Literacy Academy (moneysmartathlete.com)