India’s Olympic ambitions may be growing by the year, but the message from the global anti-doping watchdog is clear: if India wants to host the 2036 Games, it first needs to get serious about cleaning up its anti-doping system.
That warning has come from Benjamin Cohen, the director general of the International Testing Agency (ITA), who said India’s doping problem remains a major concern even as the country pushes to bring the Olympics home for the first time.
And Cohen did not mince words.
“We’re concerned in general with the state of doping in India and we’re hearing a lot of things happening on the ground,” Cohen told The Athletic.
Among the concerns flagged by Cohen were reports of athletes allegedly running away from doping control officials and claims that some athletes may be receiving advance notice before being tested — two issues that would set off alarm bells in any anti-doping system.
In other words, while India may be dreaming of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event, the global testing community is still asking whether the country’s anti-doping house is in order.
India’s 2036 dream comes with a warning
Cohen said the issue has already been raised with Indian authorities at the highest level.
The ITA chief revealed he met officials from the National Anti-Doping Agency and the Indian Olympic Association during the Winter Olympics, where anti-doping reform was firmly on the agenda. The message, he said, was straightforward: if India is serious about hosting the 2036 Olympics, reform is not optional.
“The IOC has passed on the message that if they want to be hosting the Games, they need to do some reforms,” Cohen said.
That means more than just tougher testing. According to Cohen, India needs structural and governance reforms to build an anti-doping system capable of meeting Olympic standards.
“There are a lot of governance and structural reforms that should happen for anti-doping to be highly efficient in India,” he said.
The encouraging part for India, however, is that the problem is no longer being brushed aside.
Cohen said both the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Ministry appear willing to invest in reform and work more closely with the ITA, the body that oversees anti-doping programmes for the Olympics and more than 80 international federations.
That willingness matters because, in Cohen’s view, India has both the resources and the urgency to fix the problem.
The challenge is not just testing, but trust
The bigger hurdle, Cohen suggested, may not be money or infrastructure but perception.
He admitted there remains resistance in India to working closely with the ITA, partly because external help can be seen as an uncomfortable acknowledgement that the domestic system is not doing enough.
“I’m going to be frank: there is still some resistance to engage with the ITA,” Cohen said.
According to him, there is concern within India that partnering too closely with an independent international body could be viewed as an admission that the country cannot manage its own anti-doping challenges.
That, Cohen suggested, has created hesitation.
Still, he believes India is moving in the right direction.
“They want to do something. They want to invest. They have the resources, so I think it’s just a matter of time,” Cohen said.
For India, then, the road to 2036 may not just run through new stadiums, transport plans and glossy bid documents.
It may begin in the testing room.
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