Love-Electronics: Doping in Sports

Doping in Sports

v Acknowledgement.

v Doping in Sports.

v Origin of word.

v History.

v Anabolic steroids Doping.

v Gene Doping.

v Blood Doping.

Ø Detection of blood doping.

Ø Notable blood doping cases.

Ø Preventative measures.

Ø Negative effects.

v Stem cell doping.

v Present detection techniques.

v The impact of doping on health.

Ø Potentially fatal risks.

Ø Potentially dangerous drug cocktails.

Ø Pharmacodependency.

Ø Clinical and biological signs indicating an iatrogenic disease.

Ø Psychopathological problems.

v Current drugs in use

v Reaction from sports organizations.

v Notable drug scandals and use in professional sport.

v Wikinews.

v Anti-doping convention.

v References.

Doping in sport

In sports, doping refers to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, particularly those forbidden by organizations that regulate competitions. Doping is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance enhancing drugs. Another form of doping is blood doping, either by blood transfusion or use of the hormone erythropoietin (epo). Doping is considered unethical by most international sports organizations and especially the international olympic committee. The reasons are mainly the health threat of performance-enhancing drugs, the equality of opportunity of the athletes and the exemplary effect of "clean" (doping-free) sports in the public.

This entry concerns the doping of humans. In horse racing and other equestrian sports, and in greyhound racing, horses and greyhounds can also be doped.

Origin of word

There are many suggestions as to the origin of the word ‘doping’. One is that it is derived from ‘dop’ an alcoholic drink used as a stimulant in ceremonial dances in 18th century southern africa . Another suggestion is that the word comes from the dutch word ‘doop’ (a thick dipping sauce) that entered american slang to describe how robbers stupefied victims by mixing tobacco with the seeds of datura stramonium, known as jimsonweed, which contains a number of tropane alkaloids, causing sedation, hallucinations and confusion. By 1889, ‘dope’ was used in connection with the preparation of a thick viscous preparation of opium for smoking, and during the 1890s this extended to any stupefying narcotic drug. In 1900, dope was also defined as ‘a preparation of drugs designed to influence a racehorse’s performance’

History

Texts going back to antiquity suggest that men have always sought a way to work harder or at least to suffer less as they were doing so. When the fittest of a nation were selected as athletes or combatants, they were fed diets and given treatments considered beneficial scandinavian mythology says berserkers could drink a mixture called "butotens", perhaps prepared from the amanita muscaria mushroom, and increase their physical power a dozen times at the risk of "going crazy". In more recent times, the german missionary and doctor albert schweitzer wrote of gabon in the early 19th century: "the people of the country can, having eaten certain leaves or roots, toil vigorously all day without feeling hungry, thirsty or tired and all the time showing a happiness and gaiety."

A participant in an endurance walking race in britain, abraham wood, said in 1807 that he had used laudanum, or opium, to keep him awake for 24 hours while competing against robert barclay allardyce. By april 1877, walking races had stretched to 500 miles and the following year, also at the agricultural hall in islington, london, to 520 miles. The illustrated london news chided:

It may be an advantage to know that a man can travel 520 miles in 138 hours, and manage to live through a week with an infinitesimal amount of rest, though we fail to perceive that anyone could possibly be placed in a position where his ability in this respect would be of any use to him [and] what is to be gained by a constant repetition of the fact.

The crowd loved it, however, and 20,000 a day came to watch. That encouraged promoters to repeat the races, at the same venue but with cyclists. They were the fastest humans on earth...

"...and much more likely to endure their miseries publicly; a tired walker, after all, merely sits down - a tired cyclist falls off and possibly brings others crashing down as well. That's much more fun".

The fascination with six-day bicycle races spread across the atlantic and the same appeal to base instincts brought in the crowds in america as well. And the more spectators paid at the gate, the higher the prizes could be and the greater was the incentive of riders to stay awake - or be kept awake - to ride the greatest distance. Their exhaustion was countered by soigneurs (the french word for "carers"), helpers akin to seconds in boxing. Among the treatments they supplied was nitroglycerine, a drug used to stimulate the heart after cardiac attacks and which was credited with improving riders' breathing. Riders suffered hallucinations from the exhaustion and perhaps the drugs. The american champion major taylor refused to continue the new york race, saying: "i cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand."

Public reaction turned against such trials, whether individual races or in teams of two. One report chided:

An athletic contest in which the participants 'go queer' in their heads, and strain their powers until their faces become hideous with the tortures that rack them, is not sport, it is brutality. It appears from the reports of this singular performance that some of the bicycle riders have actually become temporarily insane during the contest... Days and weeks of recuperation will be needed to put the racers in condition, and it is likely that some of them will never recover from the strain.

Anabolic steroids Doping

Anabolic steroids are a class of steroid hormones related to the hormone testosterone. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue (anabolism), especially in muscles. Anabolic steroids also have androgenic and virilizing properties, including the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics such as the growth of the vocal cords and body hair. The word anabolic comes from the greek: anabole, "to build up", and the word androgenic comes from the greek: andros, "man" + genein, "to produce".

Anabolic steroids were first isolated, identified and synthesized in the 1930s, and are now used therapeutically in medicine to stimulate bone growth and appetite, induce male puberty, and treat chronic wasting conditions, such as cancer and aids. Anabolic steroids also produce increases in muscle mass and physical strength, and are consequently used in sport and bodybuilding to enhance strength or physique. Some claim that serious health risks can be produced by long-term use or excessive doses of anabolic steroids. Known side effects include harmful changes in cholesterol levels (increased low density lipoprotein and decreased high density lipoprotein), acne, high blood pressure, liver damage, and dangerous changes in the structure of the left ventricle of the heart. Some of these effects can be mitigated by exercise, or by taking supplemental drugs. However it should be noted that there are few peer-reviewed medical data showing that anabolic steroids have long-term health effects once the user stops taking them. A recent review focuses on this concern and includes some studies reporting on higher incidences of certain consequences, such as suicide and persistent cardiopathology, after drug cessation.

The non-medical use of anabolic steroids is controversial because of their purported adverse effects and their use to gain potential advantage in competitive sports. The use of anabolic steroids is banned by all major sporting bodies, including the wta, itf, international olympic committee, fifa, uefa, all major professional golf tours, the national hockey league, major league baseball, the national basketball association, the european athletic association and the national football league. However drug testing can be wildly inconsistent and, in some instances, has gone unenforced.

Anabolic steroids are controlled substances in many countries, including the united states (u.s.), canada, the united kingdom (uk), australia, argentina and brazil, while in other countries, such as mexico they are freely available. In countries where the drugs are controlled, there is often a black market in which smuggled or counterfeit drugs are sold to users. The quality of such illegal drugs may be low, and contaminants may cause additional health risks. In countries where anabolic steroids are strictly regulated, some have called for less regulation.

Gene doping

Gene doping is defined by the world anti-doping agency as "the non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or of the modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to improve athletic performance". A complex ethical and philosophical issue is what defines "gene doping", especially in the context of bioethical debates about human enhancement. An example of gene doping could involve the recreational use of gene therapies intended to treat muscle-wasting disorders. Many of these chemicals may be indistinguishable from their natural counterparts. In such cases, nothing unusual would enter the bloodstream so officials would detect nothing in a blood or urine test.

The historical development of policy associated with gene doping began in 2001 when the international olympic committee (ioc) medical commission met to discuss the implications of gene therapy for sport. It was shortly followed by the world anti-doping agency (wada), which met in 2002 to discuss genetic enhancement at cold spring harbor laboratory in new york. Also in 2002, the united states president’s council on bioethics met twice to discuss the ethics of genetic technology related to sport. In 2003, wada decided to include a prohibition of gene doping within their world anti-doping code, which is formalized in its 2004 world anti-doping code. Further, the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) met in 2003 and 2004 to discuss the science and ethics of gene transfer technology for sport.

The world anti-doping agency (wada) has already asked scientists to help find ways to prevent gene therapy from becoming the newest means of doping. In december 2005, the world anti-doping agency hosted its second landmark meeting on gene doping, which took place in stockholm. At this meeting, the delegates drafted a declaration on gene doping which, for the first time, included a strong discouragement of the use of genetic testing for performance.

The first product to be associated with genetic doping emerged on the approach to the turin 2006 olympic winter games, where repoxygen was discussed as a possible substance in use at the games.

Blood doping

Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells (RBCs) in the circulation in order to enhance athletic performance. Because they carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, more RBCs in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO₂ max) and endurance.

The term blood doping originally meant doping with blood, i.e. the transfusion of RBCs. RBCs are uniquely suited to this process because they can be concentrated, frozen and later thawed with little loss of viability or activity. There are two possible types of transfusion: homologous and autologous. In a homologous transfusion, RBCs from a compatible donor are harvested, concentrated and then transfused into the athlete’s circulation prior to endurance competitions. In an autologous transfusion, the athlete's own RBCs are harvested well in advance of competition and then re-introduced before a critical event. For some time after the harvesting the athlete may be anemic.

Both types of transfusion can be dangerous because of the risk of infection and the potential toxicity of improperly stored blood. Homologous transfusions present the additional risks of communication of infectious diseases and the possibility of a transfusion reaction. From a logistical standpoint, either type of transfusion requires the athlete to surreptitiously transport frozen RBCs, thaw and re-infuse them in a non-clinical setting and then dispose of the medical paraphernalia.

In the late 1980s an advance in medicine led to an entirely new form of blood doping involving the hormone erythropoietin (EPO). EPO is a naturally-occurring growth factor that stimulates the formation of RBCs. Recombinant DNA technology made it possible to produce EPO economically on a large scale and it was approved in US and Europe as a pharmaceutical product for the treatment of anemia resulting from renal failure or cancer chemotherapy. Easily injected under the skin, pharmaceutical EPO can boost hematocrit for six weeks or longer. The use of EPO is now believed by many to be widespread in endurance sports.EPO is also not free of health hazards: excessive use of the hormone can cause polycythemia, a condition where the level of RBCs in the blood is abnormally high. This causes the blood to be more viscous than normal, a condition that strains the heart. Some elite athletes who died of heart failure—usually during sleep, when heart rate is naturally low—were found to have unnaturally high RBC concentrations in their blood^[1].

Detection of blood doping

A time-honored approach to the detection of doping is the random and often repeated search of athletes’ homes and team facilities for evidence of a banned substance or practice. Professional cyclists customarily submit to random drug testing and searches of their homes as an obligation of team membership and participation in the UCI ProTour. In 2004, British cyclist David Millar was stripped of his world time-trial championship after pharmaceutical EPO was found in his possession. Because athletes sometimes inject or infuse non-banned substances such as vitamin B or electrolytes, the possession of syringes or other medical equipment is not necessarily evidence of doping.

It has also been possible to link athletes to blood doping entirely through documentary evidence, even if no banned substance has been found and no athlete has failed a doping test. The Operación Puerto case is a recent example.

A more modern approach, which has been applied to blood doping with mixed success, is to test the blood or urine of an athlete for evidence of a banned substance or practice, usually EPO. This approach requires a well-documented chain of custody of the sample and a test method that can be relied upon to be accurate and reproducible. Athletes have, in many cases, claimed that the sample taken from them was misidentified, improperly stored or inadequately tested.

Yet another detection strategy has been to regard any apparently unnatural population of RBCs as evidence of blood doping. RBC population in the blood is usually reported as hematocrit (HCT) or as the concentration of hemoglobin (Hb). HCT is the fraction of blood cells by volume that are RBCs. A normal HCT is 41-50% in adult men and 36-44% in adult women. Hemoglobin (Hb) is the iron-containing protein that binds oxygen in RBCs. Normal Hb levels are 14-17 g/dL of blood in men and 12-15 g/dL in women. For most healthy persons the two measurements are in close agreement.

There are two ways in which HCT and Hb measurements can suggest that the blood sample has been taken from a doping athlete. The first is simply an unusually high value for both. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), for example, imposes a 15-day suspension from racing on any male athlete found to have an HCT above 50% and hemoglobin concentration above 17 grams per deciliter (g/dL). A few athletes naturally have high RBC concentrations (polycythemia), which they must demonstrate through a series of consistently high hematocrit and hemoglobin results over an extended period of time.

A recent, more sophisticated method of analysis, which has not yet reached the level of an official standard, is to compare the numbers of mature and immature RBCs in an athlete's circulation. If a high number of mature RBCs is not accompanied by a high number of immature RBCs--called reticulocytes--it suggests that the mature RBCs were artificially introduced by transfusion. EPO use can also lead to a similar RBC profile because a preponderance of mature RBCs tends to suppress the formation of reticulocytes. A measure known as the "stimulation index" or "off-score" has been proposed based on an equation involving hemoglobin and reticulocyte concentrations. A normal score is 85-95 and scores over 133 are considered evidence of doping. (The stimulation index is defined as Hb (g/L) minus sixty times the square root of the percentage of RBCs identified as reticulocytes.)

These threshold levels, and their specific numeric values are sources of controversy. Establishment of incorrect threshold values is one way that false positive test results can be produced by a doping control program.

Notable blood doping cases

Tour de France rider Alexander Vinokourov, of the Astana Team, tested positive for two different blood cell populations and thus for homologous transfusion, according to various news reports on July 24, 2007. Vinokourov was tested after his victory in the 13th stage time trial of the Tour on July 21, 2007. A doping test is not considered to be positive until a second sample is tested to confirm the first. Vinokourov's B sample has now tested positive, and he faces a possible suspension of 2 years and a fine equal to one year's salary. He also tested positive after stage 15.

Vinokourov's teammate Andrej Kashechkin also tested positive for homologous blood doping on August 1st, 2007, just a few days after the conclusion of the 2007 Tour de France (a race that had been dominated by doping scandals). His team withdrew after the revelation that Vinokourov had doped.

Preventative measures

It was revealed in autumn 2007, following another troubled year for professional cycling, that the sport's governing body (UCI) would introduce mandatory "blood passports" for all professional riders. The scheme, thought to be the first of its type in any sport, involves using blood and urine samples to create a medical profile that could be compared to results of subsequent doping tests. Blood doping can be very effective but also very dangerous.

Former World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Dick Pound has stated a belief that anti-doping passports will be in widespread use within three years, although not in time for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Negative effects

There are many side effects to blood doping. The simple act of increasing the number of RBCs in the blood stream makes blood thicker. This can also make it clot more readily. This has shown an increase in the chances of heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism. This has been seen in cases where there is too much blood reintroduced into the blood stream. Blood contamination during preparation or storage is another issue. This was seen in 1 in every 500,000 transfusions of RBC in 2002. This contamination can lead to sepsis or an infection that affects the whole body. This may seem like a small number but as blood doping becomes more popular among athletes, infections due to the procedure may increase. Also certain medications used to increase RBCs can reduce liver function and lead to liver failure, pituitary and increase cholesterol levels.

Stem cell doping

Stem cell doping is the postulated practice of enhancing athletic performance through various beneficial effects of stem cells injected into the bloodstream or otherwise introduced into the body. Currently there are no documented cases of stem cell doping, but there are suspicions that the practice may already be emerging.

Present detection techniques

Detection techniques are practically the same in all laboratories with international accreditation.
The first analytical stage, called the "fast" stage, is based on immunological or radioimmunological methods, separative methods such as gas chromatography and liquid chromatography (GC and HPLC) and methods associating two techniques, such as chromatography/mass spectrometry (GS-MS, HPLC-MS), chromatography/atomic emission detection (GC-AED).Obviously, it is important to attain a maximum degree of sensitivity at this level, in order to avoid falsely negative tests.
At this initial level of analysis, the samples can be sorted out so as to determine those containing illegal substances, or, more generally speaking, those which do not look quite normal.
The second stage of analysis consists in formally identifying the substances (illegal or not) detected during the first stage and searching for various possible metabolites, determining their level of concentration and identifying the drug as precisely as possible by looking for other characteristic active ingredients or vehicles.

* The recombinant growth hormone is made by several pharmaceutical companies. It is very easy to use. Its use is restricted by French law but it is much freer in other countries of the European community.

The impact of doping on health
Potentially fatal risks
In 1886, Arthur Linton died during the Bordeaux-Paris race. In 1904, the marathon runner Thomas Hicks collapsed after winning the Saint-Louis Olympics: he had taken strychnine. Dorando Pietri died in London in 1908 for the same reason. In 1960, the cyclist K. Jensen died during the 100 km road run in the Rome Olympics. The drug Ronicol was blamed. In 1967, Tom Simpson, a professional world cycling champion, collapsed and died while climbing the Mont Ventoux after having taken amphetamines. In 1975, anabolics killed Kangasniesmi, a weight lifter. His muscles gave in under the weight and the iron bar fell down, breaking his spine.
These grave accidents, and there are many more, are well-known. It would be difficult to ignore them, since they happened during competitions, in view of the public and TV cameras. This, however, is only the visible part of the damage done by doping: indeed, little is known about its effects once the athlete has left the sports arena or given up his/her career. We do know for a fact that several great champions suffered from serious health problems after leaving sport. And we also know that there is a direct relationship between certain drugs and certain health problems, such as heart disease or cancer: the existence of a causal relationship between doping and disease thus appears increasingly probable.
However, an additional difficulty resides in the fact that some substances are very often used together with another, main, drug, that some substances of the same nature (but bearing different names) are used together, and that these cocktails undeniably have a positive effect on performance.

Potentially dangerous drug cocktails
No single drug can satisfy the numerous demands made on athletes to improve performance, stimulate staying power, sustain effort during training, eliminate stress. For this reason, s/he can be tempted to use drug cocktails, either as "scientific doping" and/or as "easy" doping, the latter being used by athletes with limited financial means.
These "cocktails" can be made up of different drugs whose combined effect increases their power, or of similar drugs with different names, which, when taken together, bring the dosage to toxic levels.
Among these combinations: amphetamines combined with corticoids, cardio-respiratory analeptics or cocaine, caffeine or ephedrin; EPO with aspirin and/or an anticoagulant, or natural or synthetic glucocorticoids; to recover strength, a combination of glucose-enriched serum added to insulin, IGF1, and as a supplement, androgens, GH, beta 2-agonists. The list of possible combinations is much longer, since cocktails are elaborated and adapted according to need.

Pharmacodependency
Several doping substances used by athletes are considered by psychiatrists as addictive, leading to drug abuse and dependence, and their psychological effects and impact on behaviour have been described in the context of the study of dysfunctions linked to drug use (cf. DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Caffeine intoxication can lead to nervousness, overexcitement, insomnia, or attacks of anxiety in certain persons. Cocaine or amphetamine intoxication can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, stereotyped and repetitive behaviour, anger and violent behaviour, altered judgement. Their chronic use can cause dulled emotions, fatigue, sadness, social withdrawal, or, as concerns cocaine, persecution mania and aggressiveness. According to De Mondenard (1991), marijuana, which is used by some athletes either for its disputed stimulating effect or for the feeling of calm it provides before an event, can sometimes cause anxiety, dysphoria and social withdrawal.

Clinical and biological signs indicating an iatrogenic disease
Drug abuse can lead to the development of iatrogenic diseases which must be diagnosed early and with precision. The drugs used — generally in combination and at high dosages — provoke changes in the person taking them, modifies in his/her homeostasis, behaviour, and morphology. As a result, a clinical and biological semiology of doping with a diagnostic tree should urgently be drawn up as a diagnostic tool for physicians. Such a medicalized approach to doping could lead to further investigation of the problem by specialists and to the establishment of certificates of inaptitude to sport.
This approach is only possible in the framework of a system centered on the long-term monitoring of athletes, conducted in specialized centers, by teams of clinical specialists in sports medecine and thanks to sophisticated equipment for the evaluation of the athletes' functional ability to sustain effort. This medical/athletic monitoring would be computerized and carried out in close collaboration with the athlete's personal physician.

Psychopathological problems
Knowledge about the possible psychological and behavioral effects of drugs on athletes stems exclusively from publications describing isolated cases of pathological reactions to the use of anabolic steroids, and from experimental research carried out on animals, voluntary human subjects, either healthy or taking these drugs for therapeutic reasons, or still, from more or less systematic comparisons conducted within small groups of athletes, both taking and not taking drugs.
For example, problems linked to body image occur more frequently than average in body-builders taking anabolic steroids. These subjects often suffer from "reverse anorexia", feelings of dissatisfaction regarding their body, and bulimia.
Amateur weight-lifters of the male sex taking high doses of anablic steroids are more aggressive towards objects and verbally aggressive during training. Their periods of waking are longer and they are more irritable, anxious, suspicious and negative. Mood changes are more frequent and personal relationships more difficult when they are "on" drugs than when they are "off", or than in non-users.

Current drugs in use

Currently, tetrahydrogestrinone (thg) and modafinil are causing controversy throughout the sporting world, with many high profile cases attracting major press coverage as prominent united states athletes have tested positive for these doping substances. Some athletes who were found to have used modafinil protested as the drug was not on the prohibited list at the time of their offence; however, the world anti-doping agency (wada) maintains it is a substance related to those already banned, so the decisions stand. Modafinil was added to the list of prohibited substances on 3 august 2004, ten days before the start of the 2004 summer olympics.

Sports lawyer michelle gallen has said that the pursuit of doping athletes has turned into a modern day witch hunt.

Reaction from sports organizations

Many sports organizations have banned the use of performance enhancing drugs and have very strict rules and consequences for people who are caught using them. The international amateur athletic federation, now the international association of athletics federations, were the first international governing body of sport to take the situation seriously. In 1928 they banned participants from doping, but with little in the way of testing available they had to rely on the word of the athlete that they were clean.

It was not until 1966 that fifa (soccer) and union cycliste internationale (cycling) joined the iaaf in the fight against drugs, closely followed by the international olympic committee the following year.

Progression in pharmacology has always outstripped the ability of sports federations to implement rigorous testing procedures but since the creation of the world anti-doping agency in 1999 more and more athletes are being caught.

The first tests for athletes were at the 1966 european championships and two years later the ioc implemented their first drug tests at both the summer and winter olympics. Anabolic steroids became prevalent during the 1970s and after a method of detection was found they were added to the ioc's prohibited substances list in 1976.

Over the years, different sporting bodies have evolved differently to the war against doping. Some, such as athletics and cycling, are becoming increasingly vigilant against doping in their sports. However, there has been criticism that sports such as soccer and baseball are doing nothing about the issue, and letting athletes implicated in doping away unpunished. An example of this was operation puerto - approximately 200 sportspersons were implicated in blood doping. Of these, approximately 50 were cyclists and 150 were other sportspersons, including several "high profile soccer and tennis players" . The cyclists were pursued over their involvement, with many of them getting bans, such as ivan basso and tyler hamilton. By contrast, not a single soccer player involved in the doping ring was named, and to this day, all remain unpunished.

A handful of commentators maintain that, as outright prevention of doping is an impossibility, all doping should be legalised. However, most disagree with this assertion, pointing out the claimed harmful long-term effects of many doping agents. However, with no medical data to support these claimed health problems, it is questionable at best. Opponents claim that with doping legal, all competitive athletes would be compelled to use drugs, the net effect would be a level playing field but with widespread health consequences. However, considering that anti-doping is largely ineffective due to both testing limitations and lack of enforcement, this is not markedly different than the situation already in existence.

Another point of view is that doping could be legalized to some extent using a drug whitelist and medical counseling, such that medical safety is ensured, with all usage published. However, under such a system, it is likely that athletes would attempt cheat by exceeding official limits to try to gain an advantage; however, this is pure conjecture as drug amounts do not always correlate linearly with performance gains. Thus, to police such a system could be as difficult as policing a total ban on performance enhancing drugs.

Notable drug scandals and use in professional sport

Kunjarani Devi has served a six-month suspension after testing positive to anabolic steroids during 2001.

In 2003, baseball star barry bonds testified before a federal grand jury empaneled to investigate allegations of illegal steroid manufacturing and distribution by the bay area laboratory co-operative (balco) athletic supplement labs. Bonds was promised immunity from prosecution for testifying truthfully about steroids he may have received from his strength trainer, balco client greg anderson; instead, bonds gave evasive and carefully worded statements denying he had ever knowingly accepted, used, or been treated with any steroids from anderson. It was this testimony that is believed to form the basis for the u.s. government's indictment of bonds on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, filed on 16 november 2007.

In july 2005, founders of california's bay area laboratory co-operative pleaded guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering. Those implicated or accused in the ensuing scandal include sprinters dwain chambers, marion jones, tim montgomery, and shotputter c.j. hunter, baseball players barry bonds, jason giambi and gary sheffield, and several members of the oakland raiders.

At the 2006 winter olympics, walter mayer fled from the police when, acting on a tip, the italian authorities conducted a surprise raid to search for evidence of doping.

The 2006 book game of shadows alleges extensive use of several types of steroids and growth hormone by baseball superstar barry bonds, and also names several other athletes as drug cheats.

In 2006, spanish police arrested five people, including the sporting director of the liberty seguros cycling team, on charges of running a massive doping scheme involving most of the team and many other top cyclists. Several potential contenders in the 2006 tour de france were forced to withdraw when they were linked to the scheme. Operación puerto was mainly linked to doping in football, tennis and athletics, but the press concentrated on a small number of cyclists as le tour de france was about to start. For more details, see operación puerto doping case.

On 22 april 2006, american olympic and world 100-meter champion justin gatlin failed a drug test when steroids were found in his system. Special testing done both before and after this positive result came back negative, suggesting the results came from application of a steroid cream rather than steroid ingestion.

In september 2006, some former teammates of cyclist lance armstrong admitted to taking epo during the 1999 tour de france. While they did not state that armstrong had done the same, the article printed did attack armstrong, who throughout his career has been a target of doping allegations. Armstrong denies any use of steroids and has defended floyd landis stating that the evidence of landis using substances is too weak for conviction.

On 25 may 2007, 1996 tour de france winner bjarne riis of denmark admitted to having used epo from 1993 through 1998, including his winning tour, and also admitted to having used cortisone and growth hormone. The day before, two of his teammates on team telekom during that time, rolf aldag and six-time tour de france green jersey winner erik zabel, had admitted to epo use during the 1996 tour. Riis has offered to give back his tour de france victory.

For a full discussion on the collective bargaining clauses in the four major north american sports relating to steroids testing and detection, see "illegal muscle- a comparative analysis of proposed steroid legislation and the policies in professional sports' cba's that led to the steroid controversy. Paul a. Fortenberry and brian e. Hoffman. 5 va. Sports & ent. L.j. 121 (2006)

The 2007 tour de france was rocked by a series of doping scandals:

German rider patrik sinkewitz, who had pulled out of the tour after a crash on stage 8, was later revealed to have tested positive for elevated testosterone levels before the tour. He asked for his b sample to be tested. His t-mobile team immediately suspended him, and german prosecutors opened a criminal investigation.

Pre-race favorite alexander vinokourov (kazakhstan) tested positive for an illegal blood transfusion after winning the stage 13 time trial. The incident led his astana team to quit the tour after stage 15.

Italian cristian moreni tested positive for testosterone after stage 11. When his positive test was announced after stage 16, his entire cofidis team pulled out of the tour. Moreni acknowledged his offense, choosing not to have his b sample tested. He was detained by french police, who searched the hotel rooms where the cofidis team was to spend the evening after stage 16.

The race leader, michael rasmussen of denmark, won stage 16. However, shortly after the stage, his rabobank team pulled him from the tour for violation of team rules. According to reports, he had lied about his whereabouts during pre-tour training to both the team's directeur sportif and the sport's governing body, the uci, and had missed two tests during the run-up to the tour. Denmark's cycling federation had already removed him from the national team over this issue.

After the end of the tour, it was revealed that spanish rider iban mayo tested positive for epo late in the race.

On 19 july 2007 the california state athletic commission announced that both competitors in the lightweight title fight at ufc 73, sean sherk and hermes franca, had tested positive for banned substances in post-fight drug tests. Franca tested positive for drostanolone while sherk tested positive for nandrolone. Both fighters were suspended from competing in california until june 2008 but sherk has filed for an extension to his appeal hearing.

Wikinews has related news:

Tunisian swimmer oussama mellouli stripped of championship for doping

30 november 2006 to september 11, 2007: the case of testing positive for amphetamine by tunesian swimmer oussama mellouli. A few weeks after the conclusion of the 2007 world aquatics championships in melbourne on 28 march 2007, reports began to surface that oussama mellouli had tested positive for a banned substance at the us open in november, 2006. These reports surfaced because fina, the international governing body of the sport, had discovered that tunisian authorities had known about the positive test, and had only given him a warning. The rules state, that when an athlete tests positive for a banned substance, he or she must be given a 2 year ban from the sport. Fina had therefore taken the case to the court of arbitration for sport. On september 11, 2007, oussama mellouli lost his case before the court of arbitration for sport, receiving a competition ban for 18 months, retroactive to 30 november 2006. As a result of this sanction, all of his results from the 2007 world championships in melbourne have been vacated, including his gold medal in men's 800 m freestyle and his silver medal in men's 400 m freestyle. He will no longer be considered the first arab world champion swimmer. However, he will have a chance to swim competitively again by the time of the 2008 summer olympics in beijing.

Love-Electronics

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Doping in Sports

Doping in Sports

Contents

v Acknowledgement.

v Doping in Sports.

Detection of blood doping

Notable blood doping cases

Preventative measures

Negative effects

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