The Fablieaux

The Belgian bodybuilding championship has been canceled after doping officials showed up and all the competitors fled.

A doping official says bodybuilders just grabbed their gear and ran off when he came into the room.

“I have never seen anything like it and hope never to see anything like it again,” doping official Hans Cooman said Monday.

Twenty bodybuilders were entered in the weekend competition. Cooman says the sport has a history of doping “and this incident didn’t do its reputation any good.”

Hugo Ghailergh, one of the most promising contestants, commented “We were lucky to get out of there when we did. Those testers are much smaller and faster than we are. Thankfully we always have a back door. We will do whatever we have to to preserve the sport. No drug testing will kill this fine sport.”

During testing of bodybuilding events last year, doping authorities of northern Belgium’s Flanders region found that three-quarters of the competitors tested positive. Competitors this year were determined not to have the same shame brought upon the sport, and they succeeded.