Bangalore: From a national heroine to a "scam-tainted" villain, the metamorphosis was swift for India's middle distance athlete Sunita Rani. A gold medal in the 1,500 metres and a bronze in the 5,000 metres of the Asian Games at Busan, had the pundits, the media and the officialdom singing paeans on Sunita.

The moment she tested positive for a banned drug, Sunita was dumped by one and all. The image of a tense Sunita feebly holding her brother as she headed for the inquiry set up by the Indian Amateur Athletic Federation was indeed a moving sight to see.

Indiainfo.com met a few sports medicine experts and fellow women sportspersons to elicit views on what could have transpired to have caused the physiological change in India's ace athlete soon after her hour of glory. And most of them opined, "We still can't believe what we have heard. She is such a humble and hard working athlete. We suspect some kind of foul play. Though we don't know what transpired, we believe she could have become an unsuspecting victim and the drug could have got mixed through her food or drink."

Media reports after the none-too pleasant episode stated that Sunita and the team doctor had a tense discussion soon after the event and it was subsequently disclosed that Sunita was given an injection to postpone her menstrual cycle in order to participate in the event. This brings into question the physiology of a female athlete and her preparation for an international event vis-à-vis her metabolism.

"All women athletes don't take medicines for postponing their cycles. In fact, the women athletes are much healthier than normal women because of their regular training. Their oxygen in take is also much higher and their muscles are better toned. Barring some exceptions due to hormonal imbalances, most of them go through their normal cycles," a sports medicine expert told Indiainfo.com in an exclusive chat.

"A few athletes do tend to take medicines to postpone their cycles more out of psychological reasons rather than any physiological need. Even the imbalances reported in a few cases may be due to psychological stress, which definitely affect the release of hormones, rather than physical reasons," the expert said.

"The drugs that are administered to sportspersons generally falls in the ambit of the medicines approved by the medical council of a particular meet. Invariably doctors report within 24 hours to the medical council the drug administered to a particular sportspersons. The medicines generally used by women athletes are totally free from the banned substances," the doctor added.

"I have so far not resorted to any medication or interfered with the natural course of my metabolism. On a couple of occasions, I have felt a little uncomfortable during competition due to the monthly cycle. But, I preferred to bear the discomfiture rather than take any postponement medication," an international sportsperson said.

The discussion inevitably meandered to drugs in sports worldwide and the common consensus was, "It is a well known fact that sportspersons worldwide use drugs. There is no secret in that. The lure of medals, incentives and cash awards generally associated with winning sometimes pushes the sportspersons to look for short cuts," they said.

"In fact, Communist countries like China, former East Germany or the Russian bloc nations are known to use drugs on a large-scale. But, they seem to be doing it in a systematic manner and also seem to have developed masking agents. Unfortunately, we don't seem to have learnt such things," the sports medicine expert explained.

"Very often sportspersons force us to administer such medication. But, we stick to our ethics though at times at the risk of earning the wrath of the sportspersons with whom we have to inter-act on a regular basis. Sometimes, our efforts to conduct surprise checks during camps fail as somehow the sportspersons get wind of such raids," the doctor said.

"It is very unfortunate that the use of drugs has become a vicious cycle. The juniors, who see their seniors using such short cuts, immediately take to such methods without realising the harmful effects. We really need to create an awareness, not only in India but internationally too. In fact, coaches can easily detect the use of drugs by sportspersons vis-à-vis a sudden improvement in performance," the expert said.

"Unfortunately coaches don't seem to realise the harm that they create to their wards. Sudden increase in body weight, aggressiveness, voice changes – normally the voice of sportspersons regularly using performance-enhancing drugs become hoarse (symptoms common to both men and women), masculinity, growth of moustache and pimples in women sportsperson are easy tell tale signs of drug use or abuse," the doctor explained.

"Balding, jaundice and infertility are the later side effects. In fact, some drugs can make the voice of the sportspersons slurred. There are also instances of deaths due to drug abuse. The drug and the dehydration caused due to the sustained activity can turn fatal. There have also been cases of cancer and muscle tear are very common. The effects of drug abuse cannot be reversed and many athletes have suffered disturbed family lives," the expert added.

Another bone of contention was the authenticity of the tests conducted in India and the standards of the Indian labs. "Indian labs are good enough to test drugs especially such as nandrolone. May be we now need to get the labs accredited."

Where in lies the solution, "We need to counsel the sportspersons individually and collectively. They should be told to be more open especially when discussing ailments or injuries with their doctors. There can be instances where medicines administered for an ailment or injury will cause a reaction to some drug the sportsperson might have taken. In fact, except for elite sports like say badminton, tennis or cricket, most of the international athletes don't want their children to follow their footsteps because of such issues," the expert added.

The crux of the issue, the proverbial, "Who is to bell the cat?" Is the lure of incentives, much higher than the pride of the nation? Will the sportspersons, coaches, associations and federations take up the onus of ridding sport of such unsavoury incidents? Can we hope that in the future we will not get to see another "disgraced" Sunita Rani? Only time will tell.