In today’s fast-paced track and field realm, doping has often appeared as a recurring evil. As competitiveness grows, athletes often seem to give away to shortcuts. In a recent interview, the Australian entrepreneur who proposed the idea of the Enhanced Games got candid about the usage of dr*gs in the athletics realm. With data backed by solid research, D’Souza pointed out how there has been a surge in the enhancement tactics among the top Olympic athletes. 

While this was a controversial tale, there is indeed research to prove his theory! As per the reports released by the Journal of Sports Medicine in 2018, almost 44% of top athletes have used banned substances at least once in their lifetime. And the number has only increased over time. D’Souza also mentioned how the doping cases have been particularly concentrated in the 100m sprint category. Surely, this was a scary prospect to know. But even D’Souza had to agree that there was one legend who never touched banned substances in his entire career. 

Usain Bolt lays down details of his extremely disciplined path to track and field greatness 

And that is none other than the track and field legend, Usain Bolt himself. Creating a 100m world record timing of 9.58s, Bolt has been subjected to numerous doping tests. However, each time, he came out with flying colors. And there’s a pretty good reason for him not touching the banned substances. As per his take on the matter, Bolt mentioned in his book a scary story that had him resort to extreme measures. As a matter of fact, the Jamaican was always very careful about what he ate or drank on a daily basis. 

To cut out the risk completely, Bolt ditched caffeine altogether, keeping in mind some of the rough encounters athletes had with caffeine. However, there was one particular incident that made Bolt even more choosy with his food and meds. Bolt narrated about a US sprinter who had three cans of energy drink before going for a drug test. Unfortunately, his samples came out positive, and the athlete was banned from competing before the Beijing Olympics. Recalling the incident, Bolt stated, “Whenever I went to clubs, I’d always mixed my liquor with energy drinks, but after that story, I partied with cranberry juice instead. Once a cold came on, I had to ride it out. It was a cruel world for any athlete with flu. To risk my track and field life for a cough syrup was a dumba** move, because I was always getting tested.”

And this was not all. Bolt also became conscious about the types of medicines he was having. In fact, he refrained from putting any medicine in his system, even if he was ill! Bolt relied on vitamin C tablets to get rid of his cold instead of gulping bottles of cough syrup. Thus, it is evident that in order to become a legend, Bolt had walked down an extremely disciplined path. But were all the sacrifices worth it? Well, as per the track legend, it is. He also gave his honest two cents on the rising cases of doping in track and field. 

Usain Bolt gets candid on the ill effects of doping

Usain Bolt is pained to see the doping tendencies among the athletes rising. In a recent turn of events, more than 40 athletes were found to be taking banned substances ahead of the Paris Olympics in a test conducted by the ITA (International Testing Agency). The shocking news reverberated through the athletics world, leaving even legendary figures like Usain Bolt deeply saddened. Speaking on the High-Performance podcast recently, Bolt stated how trying to take a shortcut can ruin the career of an athlete. 

Reflecting on the same, Bolt stated, “I could never understand why, you know what I mean? A lot of people don’t want to wait their time.” This is typical of Bolt, who remained dedicated to hard work and honesty throughout his life. Presenting himself as an example, the Jamaican legend stated, “I think if you work on your talent and you’re really dedicated, you need to figure out how you can get better… To get to the level I’m at, I struggled throughout the years, but I figured it out: ‘Oh, this is what I need to do; this is what’s going to get me better.’ A lot of times, the work is so hard because it’s not easy—it’s very intense.”

Surely, these are some very inspiring words from the legend himself. But will the upcoming athletes be brave enough to cut the noise and commit to days of hard work and restraint? Well, that’s a question that only Father Time can answer.