Korean singer and entertainer Kim Jong-kook, star of the popular TV show “Running Man,” has revealed the results of his doping test.
The 45-year-old star underwent extensive tests to belie the claims by Canadian bodybuilder Greg Doucette that he was taking enhancers to maintain his muscled body.
In October, Doucette, who was found guilty of smuggling and distributing anabolic steroids in Canada in 2014, accused that Kim Jong-kook’s muscled body was unnatural and that he was on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to enhance his body.
"If you had to bet 1 million dollars or your life was on the line, a gun was at your head and asked, 'Hey, you have to pick one―is Kim Jong-kook natural or enhanced?' What would you say? I would say he is enhanced, not natural," he said, according to SBS News.
Doucette added, "He just keeps looking better every year. I think he's on HRT (hormone replacement therapy). I don't think he's taking an abusive dosage, but it's highly unlikely that someone who loves the gym this much and is making progress decade after decade is not taking something."
To prove Doucette wrong, Kim Jong-kook underwent blood and doping tests to once and for all end the controversy.
In a video he uploaded on his YouTube channel on Dec. 16, Kim Jong-kook underwent a full doping test by providing his urine sample to a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited center in Korea.
Se-young Myeong, representative of INBA Korea Five Star Global, "We're the only institution in the world that can request doping tests at WADA.”
"The most serious problem for me right now is my hormones. The claims that say I'm old and my hormone levels are low so I'm going under HRT therapy," said Kim Jong-kook
Se-young Myeong told him that "the test you just applied is the highest level of doping test. It's a doping test that does an extra upgraded examination of one's body sample. It's called an in-competition test where you're getting tested for 392 kinds while competing. So the test you chose even goes far to determine if it belongs to your body or not.”
On Dec. 9, the test results were revealed. The Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory (SMRTL), a WADA-accredited laboratory in South Jordan, Utah, analyzed Kim Jong-kook’s urine sample.
SMRTL’s analysis showed Kim Jong-kook did not take any steroids.
According to the test results, the analysis requested was for "specimen was analyzed for all prohibited substances using IRMS test methods."
IRMS means isotope ratio mass spectrometry and according to the SMRTL website, it “detects doping with naturally-occurring steroids (such as testosterone) that are pharmaceutically produced.”
"No Prohibited Substance(s) or Prohibited Method(s), or their Metabolite(s) or Marker(s)on the test menu were detected. IRMS results do not confirm exogenous origin of the urinary metabolites of testosterone related steroids,” SMRTL’s analysis of Kim Jong-kook’s urine sample read, showing that he is clean.
Kim Jong-kook chided Doucette, saying, “Claiming you think you are wrong and claiming you were wrong are completely different. He said, 'I think I was wrong.' The principle presumption of innocence. I'm sure he knows my doping test results are out."
"So looking at my results, figure out if your claims were right or wrong and accept that you had lacked logic. I think it'd be even better if you conclude that you need a more in-depth studying. That'd be cooler in my opinion," he added.
Kim Jong-kook said Doucette "insisted, after 40s, it's inevitable that hormones decrease. So to cover that up, he claimed I went through constant hormone replacement therapy at 45, 46 to be able to maintain that kind of performance and body condition. HRT, TRT. It's because I'm going under those two hormone replacement therapy that's why Kim Jong-kook's body isn't natural. He's saying logically that doesn't make sense even for someone who has a Ph.D. like him.”
He said that instead of spending 30 million won ($25,300) for legal actions, he will donate it to people in need.
On the other hand, in 2014, a Halifax provincial court in Canada convicted and fined Doucette $50,000 for smuggling and distributing anabolic steroids, according to CBC News.
Doucette was also given a 20-month conditional sentence and one year of probation after he was charged for violation of the Customs Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
About $250,000 worth of steroids was also seized from his home in 2010. He was charged in court in 2012.
In 2018, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) banned Doucette for eight years after he refused to submit a sample after he competed in a cycling competition..
According to a decision by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, Doucette competed in the Tour de Keji race on May 26, 2018.
After the race, he was asked to submit a sample for the anti-doping test but he refused. He was banned for eight years as this was his second anti-doping violation in 10 years.
On Jan. 10, 2013, Doucette tested positive in an anti-doping test and was suspended for two years.