The Belgium bodybuilding championships were canceled this weekend after all the bodybuilders fled the building where the competition was being held. Their reason? Anti-doping officials had shown up unannounced to administer drug tests.

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

He says the sport has a history of doping “and this incident didn’t do its reputation any good.”

The Belgium bodybuilding championships were canceled this weekend after all the bodybuilders fled the building where the competition was being held. Their reason? Anti-doping officials had shown up unannounced to administer drug tests.

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

He says the sport has a history of doping “and this incident didn’t do its reputation any good.”

Last year, 22 of 29 tests were positive, either for steroids or for refusing testing, for a staggering 75 per cent ratio.

The contest organizers had moved it from Belgium to a town across the border in the Netherlands, apparently figuring they would evade the drug testers.

And when they identified themselves just before the event as the 20 bodybuilders were weighing in and preparing themselves the testers got the surprise of their lives. They all just got up and left, preferring to quit the event rather than submit to doping tests, some grabbing their gear and heading straight out the door.

“They must have been flabbergasted,” Cooman said. Bodybuilders usually take months to prepare for such championships, yet the sight of controllers was too much for them.

It would have been a great photo had someone been on hand to snap a picture of 20 bodybuilders racing through the streets one step ahead of the posse.

Hat tip to Deadspin.

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