Rhasidat Adeleke has echoed the call for more “lifelong consequences” for athletes and countries in breach of serious anti-doping violations similar to those charged against Bahrain ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Speaking from her training base in Austin, Texas, Adeleke also reflected further on her fourth-place finish in the 400 metres in Paris, where Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain won the silver medal in a season best of 48.53 seconds, after returning from a two-year ban imposed in 2021 for previous doping offences.
Last Thursday, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) issued a notice of charge against the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) for “serious anti-doping rule violations” and “historical breaches of the World Athletics anti-doping rules” just eight months before the Olympics.
Although the AIU stopped short of recommending an outright ban, it resulted in Bahrain being limited to enter a maximum of 10 athletes in Paris, and the BAA agreeing to spend up to $7.3 million over four years to address the doping and integrity risk in athletics in Bahrain.
A ban was imposed on Bahrain from competing in any other World Athletics Series events for 12 months from June 1st, 2024, although there was no further sanction by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), with Naser still free to compete in the Diamond League events as they are not part of the World Athletics Series.
In the aftermath of that decision, three-time Irish Olympian Thomas Barr called for greater sanctions against countries like Bahrain, and Adeleke agreed there should be more “lifelong consequences” to any such offences.
“I’m not really sure how that all works,” Adeleke said of the Bahrain situation, with Naser also finishing second in Sunday’s Diamond League in Silesia, Poland, where the Dublin sprinter again finished fourth.
“But I think for sure if there were more lifelong consequences to doping or being caught or missing three tests or bans or things like that [then] people would think twice before they make certain decisions.
“I feel like if the sanctions were higher, if there were more significant consequences, it would have a different outcome. But I’m not in a place to make those decisions so it’s really up to doping and Wada etc so.
“Honestly, and at the end of the day there’s nothing really that I can do. I just hope that everyone is being clean and that’s all I can really hope for as an athlete. So I’m really just trying to focus on myself and making sure that I’m doing everything I can to be a clean athlete and to train hard, work hard, and whatever anyone else does is out of my control.”
Adeleke, who turns 22 on Thursday, also said she was not dwelling on the inclusion of Naser in Paris or elsewhere, although it does make her wonder sometimes if she is competing on an entirely level playing field, or if the sport of athletics will ever be entirely clean
“Yeah it’s kind of sad, sometimes, when you think about it. Knowing how hard I work and knowing how much I sacrifice and how much I do to perform at my best abilities, and that fear factor of I guess if people aren’t doing the same. It is a shame but there’s nothing I can do about that.
“It’s all about justice prevailing and making sure that we are in a clean sport and people doing their part and me doing my part. So other than that, there’s nothing really much I can do. I can’t control what other people are doing. Yeah just hoping that that’s not the position we’re in.”
Reflecting on her fourth place finish in Paris, Natalia Kaczmarek from Poland edging past her close to the finish line, Adeleke said: “I do think about it sometimes still, but I’ve probably moved past it. It’s already happened, there’s nothing I can do now so there’s no point dwelling about it and thinking, what ifs? It’s just moving on forward and knowing how I can be better.
“And I think it’s more so looking back on it also and thinking what I’ve learned from it and what I can do better. And just analysing what happened in each segment and that’s really what we did in the past. I’m moving past it now and I’m trying to see it for what it is. And trying to have a positive light on it because it’s not a horrible position to be in, I guess. So yeah just seeing it for what it is.”
Rhasidat Adeleke was speaking at the announcement that Allianz had renewed their partnership with the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI).
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