Why religion isn't an excuse for Omar

Religion is not an excuse when it comes to drug in sport. Paul Johnson calls on latest drug cheat, boxer Omar Shaick, to be given his warranted ban.

It seems we as a world have a new problem, not only do our politicians have to worry about offending the racial minorities in this country and the world over, but apparently now religion is an excuse to hide from a drug test.

Omar Shaick and the other Muslim boxers at the centre of this controversy surely must be joking!

You can not subject us to drug tests because it offends our religious beliefs. Too bad.

Now this may come as a shock to them, but in the current climate or the climate since the 1970’s when drugs were rife, if you want to be an athlete expect to be drug tested, it is part of your profession, regardless of whether you are Islamic, Christain, Protestant or belong to Scientology.

If you have nothing to hide, then take the test and take it with someone in the room. Good faith does not apply in this instance, and nor should it, otherwise Floyd Landis would probably not have tested positive to testosterone.

Drugs are a blight on sport, and no one should be able to hide behind their religion to escape the tests or take them on their own. Athletes have been known to be sneaky in the past and use another persons’ ‘clean’ urine to fill the bottle.

Hopefully ASDA will have the good sense to not take the soft line that every other organization or government body in this country takes when it comes to treading cautiously around the religious minority of Islam, and issues that some Islamists have with various aspects of society.

Today the boxers involved have declared, “they would rather quit than take a urine test”.

If that is the case then let them quit, but above all else do not let them escape the clutches of ASDA and their stringent testing methods because it offends their Muslim beliefs.

Currently world sport is under the microscope in relation to a number of drug scandals, but Australia has kept its nose clean.

So lets not take a soft stance against some boxers because of their religious beliefs that would damage our reputation on the world stage.

Give Omar Shaick the two-year ban that he deserves for refusing the drug test.

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