The Doping Games

What kind of blog would this be if it didn’t at least mention the biggest sporting event in the world this month? The Olympics in Sochi started on February 6th with figure skating, and the closing ceremony will take place this Sunday, February 23rd. Most of these athletes have been training for their whole lives for their events and are unquestionably awesome at them. But some people might want to get an extra boost by trying performance-enhancing drugs before they compete.

So far, at least three athletes have failed doping tests in Sochi. One of them is a Russian biathlete who stepped down shortly before the games began; another is a German competitor who was found out this Friday; the third is an Italian bobsledder who was sent home on the 18th.

Russian athlete Irina Starykh failed a steroid test and was disqualified at the beginning of the games.

Elite Russian biathlete Irina Starykh failed a steroid test and was disqualified at the beginning of the games.  Picture courtesy of RiaNovosti (http://en.ria.ru/)

The purpose of drug testing isn’t just to even the playing field; steroids can have harmful effects on athletes’ health. One of the most common drugs is Oral-Turinabol, which does a great job boosting physical abilities. However, it also causes long-term heart and liver problems, along with more minor side effects like body hair and voice deepening.

Early in the games, chairman of the medical commission Arne Ljungqvist, expressed his confidence in Russia’s drug testing system: “Who knows who is the smartest, the athletes and their entourage or our scientists… I [personally believe that] our scientists are probably smarter than those around the athletes.”

And indeed, Russia has promised to implement the toughest drug testing system in Olympic history. They are using a new procedure called the “long-term metabolites method,” which can detect anabolic steroids more than six months after athletes take them. This method is apparently so effective that the IOC (the Russian committee responsible for drug testing) are starting to use it on frozen urine samples from the 2006 Olympics. But there is always the question, how many athletes have used performance-enhancing drugs, but for some reason were never discovered?

Right now, it seems that science is being used to both develop better performance-enhancing drugs and better ways to test for them. Do you think that maybe this is a no-win cycle and we should just allow steroid use in sports competitions? Or should there be stricter punishments for drugs so athletes and coaches would be less willing to try them?

 

Sources:

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/SOCHI-SCENE-Athletes-vs-scientists-5255219.php

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2012/08/24/why-its-time-to-legalize-steroids-in-professional-sports/

http://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-olympics/2014/schedule/2014-02-23

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/sochi/2014/02/21/italian-bobsledder-william-frullani-tests-positive/5675687/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/sochi/2014/02/21/german-athlete-doping-winter-olympics-sochi/5671469/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/drugsinsport/10458454/IOC-to-act-after-new-testing-methods-reveal-hundreds-of-positive-results.html

4 thoughts on “The Doping Games

  1. I also enjoy watching the Olympics. Seeing the best athletes in the world all compete on the same stage is amazing and you can always guarantee that there will be huge victories, upsets, and surprises. However, I think the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs really takes away from the Games. The Olympics is supposed to represent sport and competition in its purest form, but when some athletes use these drugs, they are gaining an unfair advantage. I do not think any athlete should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs and I think we should continue to create stricter regulations and tests. However, as you mentioned, this becomes a never-ending cycle because science improves these drugs while at the same time improves testing. As long as science and technology keep developing, I think we will continue to face this problem.

  2. I love the Olympics. I consider it such an honor to represent your country as an outstanding athlete. Because of this, when I hear of people using performance enhancing drugs in the Olympics, I am a little disgusted. I do not think that these types of drugs should be allowed on any playing field because it gives some athletes an advantage over others, not to mention how harmful they can be to your body. How is it possible to create and administer a 100% fool-proof drug test, though? And what kinds of repercussions should athletes have if it is found they used drugs?

  3. I love watching the olympics, and it makes me sad to find out that people try and ruin the integrity of the games by using steroids. I definitely believe that steroids should be illegal. Steroids for athletes is like if I went on Jeopardy and won a million dollars but I used my phone to look up answers. It’s just plain cheating. But I also think it’s unfair that some athletes probably get away with using steroids and others get caught. We need to develop a better system to detect steroid use in all athletes. But, until that is done, I think there should be much stricter punishments for athletes that are caught using steroids, especially for those that are competing in the olympics. This will deter athletes from using steroids in the first place. Also maybe they should have a system where they do keep urine samples on file, and when the technology gets better they can retest these samples. They can then threaten the athletes with the fact that their medals could be taken away even years later, that would be quite humiliating.

  4. When a new technology like this is introduced, it is always a question of “should we now use it on previous events?” I do not feel that they should be testing samples form 2006. Honestly, what is the point? Are you going to take the gold away from someone and give it to another athlete. This seems a tad late…If the technology was not existent in the first place, just let it remain that way. I do not believe that they should freely allow steroids on the playing field. This would actually be ridiculous. Moral athletes spend their entire lives training and dedicated to these games. To be beaten by someone who has been taking steroids would be the ultimate injustice. If anything, laws should be tougher on those who break the rules. You would think the embarrassment of being caught would be enough…

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