NEIL MANTHORP: Drugs in sport: highs and lows in the real world

The world of drugs and sport is a legal and medical minefield beyond the comprehension of most of us who have never had to consider the ramifications of anything prescribed to us by a doctor or, indeed, that we chose to use for fun or relaxation.

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) once virulent (some would say brutal) penalties on guilty athletes have gradually been challenged over the years, and though suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs remain extremely strict, some have been successfully mitigated.

The rulings on recreational drug use have been far more seriously challenged, however, and views on their use have changed. For decades there was almost no distinction made between drugs designed to improve athletic performance and those used to get high, or even to climb down from a high.

The softening of penalties for recreational drug use can be traced back as far as 2009, when French tennis player Richard Gasquet tested positive for traces of cocaine. He was facing a lengthy ban and appealed on the basis that he had inadvertently ingested the drug after passionately kissing a stripper on coke in a nightclub.

The International Tennis Federation opposed his appeal and the case went to the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS), which upheld the players’ version of events and ruled that the ban was disproportionate and unfair.

“The panel based its ruling on the evidence provided by the experts called by both the player and the ITF, who agreed that the amount of cocaine metabolite was so minute that it must have reflected incidental exposure, rather than use in the amounts taken by social users.

“Furthermore, it was also established that the player was clearly not a regular cocaine user, even in very small amounts. As a consequence, the possibility of contamination became the most plausible explanation justifying the presence of cocaine metabolite in the player’s urine,” a CAS statement said at the time.

The wheels of justice turn slowly but Wada’s constitution regarding recreational drug use was finally amended in 2021 to recognise that elite athletes are also regular human beings living in the “real world”.

Though cannabis and cocaine remain on the banned list, along with a host of other “social” drugs, their use does not automatically trigger a lengthy ban. A standard sentence is three months but that can be reduced to only 30 days. It is a complex and time-consuming process which usually, apparently, starts with the athlete accepting the evidence of their error immediately.

Wada does not look kindly on appellants who first attempt to deny their indiscretion. The athlete (and their legal team) must then prove beyond doubt that not only was there no performance enhancement, but that there was no intention to enhance performance. They are also required to attend counselling.

Kagiso Rabada’s admission at the weekend that he had left the Indian Premier League (IPL) a month ago after playing just two matches for the Gujarat Titans because he had tested positive for a banned substance now makes sense. A 30-day suspension would suit everybody concerned. The SA20, during which his positive test occurred, will rightly remain distanced from it.

Cricket SA will be mightily relieved to have Rabada available for the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s on June 11. And the Gujarat Titans will be equally pleased that Rabada will be available for the IPL play-offs in which they will almost certainly be involved. Rabada, obviously, would be satisfied with such an outcome.

If it all seems a little too convenient, that’s only because news of the positive test was never made public. There is no obligation on anyone to make the results of positive drugs tests public — many are not. It only looks peculiar because of Rabada’s status and profile — and it is certainly a surprise that the news never leaked in his month at home.

The SA Institute for Drug Free Sport  issued a statement confirming the situation on Monday.

Rabada has returned to India and is ready to return to the cricket field. In his statement he said he would not allow the issue “to define me”. Good for him. It should not. Let he who is perfect cast the first stone...