Irish Olympic boxer Paddy Barnes has taken to Twitter to bemoan the stringent nature of drug testing at the Commonwealth Games. Barnes, who is fighting for Northern Ireland at the Games in Glasgow, was less than impressed with the scheduling of the mandatory tests. The Belfast man branded it "a fucking joke" and even claimed that it could have put his participation in the Games in jeopardy.
Anti Doping has decided to hit me with a urine test 3 days b4 the weigh in and after dehydrating myself making weight! I can't even drink...
— Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 21, 2014
...anything, won't even let me get a shower and I'll prob get the cold and sick, could be the end of my games if I get sick over this! — Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 21, 2014
#antidoping at #Glasgow2014 don't care about athlete welfare, all they care about is the piss and they're literally taking the piss!
— Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 21, 2014
Nearly 1 in the morning and gave me sleeping on a Physio bed with the light on and a silver medical blanket! Supposed to be fighting in... — Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 21, 2014
...a few days! Could gave tested me at a reasonable time of the day when I wasn't just finished training #Glasgow2014
— Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 21, 2014
Test has been aborted, off to my bed! #Glasgow2014#mental#brilliantpreparation#not#justaswellimthebest#lol — Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 21, 2014
The following morning, Barnes returned to Twitter bright and early to reveal that he had again been selected to undergo drugs testing.
#antidoping let me home at 2am last night, wake me up at 7.30am for another test! This is some preparation for the games, fucking joke!
— Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 22, 2014
Always one to enjoy a joke, Barnes allowed himself some cooling off time before lightening the mood a little bit.
Test results are back already, positive for Viagra! — Paddy Barnes (@paddyb_ireland) July 22, 2014
While he may have cooled down, Barnes' reservations about the drug testing procedure were echoed by fellow Belfast boxer Michael Conlon.
Just finished training over here in the village, bang anti doping turns up takes us without getting washed or dryed soaked in sweat and ...
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) July 21, 2014
Dehydrated after training, this is calling for sickness! Disaster!!!!
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) July 21, 2014
The Commonwealth Games kicks off on Thursday with the boxing competition set to begin on Friday.
Cover image credit: Oliver McVeigh / SPORTSFILE
