Doping in Sports

Question: Doping was sometimes encouraged and thought of as necessary in the early years of the modern Olympics.

Answer: Since even ancient Olympic Games, athletes have been brewing concoctions to help themselves perform better. In the early modern Olympics it was believed that injecting athletes with substances was the only way to ensure that athletes finished a race or marathon.

Question: Which sport has the highest amount of doping?

Answer: Cycling is known as a sport with high levels of doping. Controversy has followed the famous Tour de France cycling competition since its beginning. Because of the sport’s rigorous physical requirements, many athletes choose to use performance-enhancing substances to get ahead, though they are prohibited, and those athletes are often caught.

Question: Which athlete admitted to doping in 2012 and was stripped of all titles and permanently banned from competing in sports?

Answer: Lance Armstrong infamously admitted to doping in 2012 and lost all of his previous Tour de France victories and was subsequently banned from sports. He had won seven Tour de France championships.

Question: What is the most-common testing method for detecting performance-enhancing drugs?

Answer: The collection of urine samples for study is one of the most-effective methods for detecting the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Mass spectrometry is used to determine the characteristics of each substance present in a sample, allowing for the detection of drugs.

Question: Which foundation works to detect the use of drugs in sports?

Answer: The World Anti-Doping Agency was founded in 1999 and is led by the International Olympic Committee.

Question: In what year did the International Olympic Committee ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs?

Answer: In 1967, after professional athletic organizations such as FIFA and Union Cycliste Internationale had already done so, the International Olympic Committee decided to ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Question: Which of these is not a prohibited performance-enhancing substance?

Answer: Creatine is an organic acid that helps enhance muscles with energy. It has not been found to cause serious harm to those who use it, and is allowed in sports, but its use as a performance enhancer is the subject of much controversy.

Question: Which performance-enhancing drug acts like testosterone, increasing muscle mass in those who use it?

Answer: Anabolic steroids are synthetic drugs related to male sex hormones that increase muscle mass and cause male sexual traits to develop in women and men.

Question: Blood doping with erythropoietin improves an athlete’s performance by what process?

Answer: Blood doping increases the number of red blood cells that circulate in the body, allowing more oxygen to flow through the bloodstream. Increased oxygen flow enhances aerobic capacity, allowing longer physical exertion.

Question: In 1984 what percentage of Olympians responded “Yes” when asked whether they had ever used anabolic steroids?

Answer: A whopping 68 percent of athletes admitted to having used anabolic steroids at least once, with 61 percent saying they had used them within six months of being asked.