Lance Armstrong was a seven time cyclist winner of The Tour de France before he was caught cheating and had his titles taken away. Like myself, many of you may have been disappointed when his story of using ban substances and methods broke. It’s been confirmed that he had been using illegal methods and substances during all seven of his victories. Armstrong went so long with no one knowing of his indiscretions which made the story such a shock; but how could he possibly be using steroids for so long without being detected?
Armstrong’s method of choice was ‘blood-doping.’ This method involves the injection of erythropoietin, otherwise known as EPO. EPO is a naturally occurring hormone, buried by the kidneys, whose function is to regulate red blood cell production. EPO stimulates bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. For this reason EPO is most commonly used amongst endurance athletes as a higher red blood cell count, which essentially means better oxygen transportation and therefore a higher rate of respiration. The faster the rate of respiration, the higher the level at which the athlete can work without utilizing the anaerobic systems which produce lactic acid and cause fatigue. (teachpe.com).
Armstrong however wasn’t the only athlete to be caught using EPO over the years. Athletes including boxer Shane Mosley, cyclists Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, Hockey player Alexi Cherepanov, skater Claudia Pechstein, and race walk champion Alex Schwazer have all been found doping on EPO as well.
The problem with EPO is levels too high can potentially increase hemoglobin beyond a reasonable measure, which in turn can result in a heart attack or stroke and heart failure which will commonly kill you in your sleep. EPO’s non-fatal side effects include dizziness, flu-like symptoms, headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, high blood pressure, rash and in some cases hyperkalemia (steroriod.com).
Over the years so many athletes were able to use EPO because it was so difficult to detect. People already have naturally occurring EPO levels in their bodies and often test gave false positives. After all of the allegations of EPO use new tests were put in place which made this drug easier to detect. To test for blood doping or EPO use, several times a year blood samples will be taken and compared against an athlete’s benchmark, looking for unexpected increases in hematocrit levels. The acceptable limit is now 50% for men and 47% for women (bikesplit.com).
Today there are still flaws in the new testing method being that athletes can use EPO as long as they have periodic testing and don’t exceed the accepted levels, however this is a step in the right direction to prevent continuous cheating.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/world-at-play/lance-armstrong-oprah-what-is-epo-blood-doping
http://www.teachpe.com/drugs/epo.php
http://www.steroid.com/EPO.php
http://www.bikesplit.com/bsa17.htm