An editorial by Takaomi Matsubara
A doping violation-free Olympics. How many times has that been touted as a point of pride for Japan? But in recent year the number of Japanese athletes falling afoul of doping regulations, even at the Olympics, has become conspicuous. A male cyclist in 2016. In 2017 a male swimmer, a male wrestler and a female fencer were all judged to have committed doping violations. In February this year at the Pyeongchang Olympics short track speed skater Kei Saito and again in May Rio Olympian and 2009 100 m backstroke world champion Junya Koga were both announced to have failed drug tests.
There was also the case last September of a national team-level kayak athlete who had mixed prohibited substances into a rival athlete's drink, but many of the aforementioned athletes were found to have committed violations inadvertently rather than deliberately. Others have likewise claimed that the violations were accidental, and looking at the amount of the substances i…
A doping violation-free Olympics. How many times has that been touted as a point of pride for Japan? But in recent year the number of Japanese athletes falling afoul of doping regulations, even at the Olympics, has become conspicuous. A male cyclist in 2016. In 2017 a male swimmer, a male wrestler and a female fencer were all judged to have committed doping violations. In February this year at the Pyeongchang Olympics short track speed skater Kei Saito and again in May Rio Olympian and 2009 100 m backstroke world champion Junya Koga were both announced to have failed drug tests.
There was also the case last September of a national team-level kayak athlete who had mixed prohibited substances into a rival athlete's drink, but many of the aforementioned athletes were found to have committed violations inadvertently rather than deliberately. Others have likewise claimed that the violations were accidental, and looking at the amount of the substances i…