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Drugs and Sports Performance

SR2002

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Outline• Performance enhancement

• The offence of doping

• Drugs in sport

• Prohibited classes of substances

• Prohibited methods

• Types of drugs/doping

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Performance Enhancement

• diet

• training

• stress reduction

• hypnosis

• drugs (pharmacological agents)

• hormones

• physiological agents

DOPING

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• Doping contravenes the fundamental principles of Olympism and sports and medical ethics.

• Doping is forbidden.

• Recommending, proposing, authorizing, condoning or facilitating the use of any substance or method covered by the definition of doping or trafficking therein is also forbidden.

Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code - THE OFFENCE OF DOPING

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Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code - THE OFFENCE OF DOPING

Doping is:

1. the use of an expedient (substance or method) which is potentially harmful to athletes’ health and/or capable of enhancing their performance, or

2. the presence in the athlete’s body of a Prohibited Substance or evidence of the use thereof or evidence of the use of a Prohibited Method.

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Drugs in Sport• 1886 - The first recorded death was in 1886

when a cyclist, Linton, died from an overdose of trimethyl.

• 1904 - The first near death in modern Olympics where a marathon runner, Thomas Hicks, was using a mixture of brandy and strychnine.

• Most drugs involved alcohol and strychnine. Heroin, caffeine and cocaine were also widely used until heroin and cocaine became available only on prescription.

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Drugs in Sport• 1930s - Amphetamines were produced and

quickly became the choice over strychnine.

• 1950s - The Soviet team used male hormones to increase power and strength and the Americans developed steroids as a response.

• 1952 - One of the first noticeable doping cases involving amphetamines which occurred at the Winter Olympics. Several speed skaters became ill and needed medical attention.

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Drugs in Sport• 1960 - At the Olympics, Danish cyclist, Kurt

Jensen, collapsed and died from an amphetamine overdose.

• 1963 - Pressure started to mount on the IOC. The Council of Europe set up a Committee on drugs but couldn't decide on a definition of doping.

• 1964 -There was a noticeable increase in the muscular appearance of the athletes at the Olympics and drug use was suspected.

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Drugs in Sport• 1967 - The IOC took action after the death of

Tommy Simpson (due to the illegal taking of amphetamines) in the Tour de France.

• 1968 - The IOC decided on a definition of doping and developed a banned list of substances. Testing began at the Olympic games.

From the Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA) 1999

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Drugs in Sport

• International Olympic Committee (IOC) produced first doping list in 1967

• Compulsory drug testing introduced in 1968– Winter Olympics - Grenoble– Summer Olympics - Mexico

• List of prohibited classes of substances and prohibited methods– defined by IOC (April 2000)

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WADA World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List 2013

Substances and Methods Prohibited at All Times (In-and-Out-of-Competition)

Prohibited Substances S0. Non-Approved Substances S1. Anabolic agents S2. Peptide hormones, growth factors and related substances S3. Beta-2 agonists S4. Hormone and metabolic modulators S5. Diuretics and other masking agents

Prohibited Methods M1. Manipulation of blood and blood components M2. Chemical and physical manipulation M3. Gene doping

S0. Non-approved substances

Any pharmacological substance which is not addressed by any of the subsequent sections of the List and with no current approval by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use (e.g drugs under pre-clinical or clinical development or discontinued, designer drugs, substances approved only for veterinary use) is prohibited at all times.

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WADA World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List 2013

Substances and Methods Prohibited In-CompetitionProhibited Substances S6. Stimulants S7. Narcotics S8. Cannabinoids S9. Glucocorticosteroids

Substances Prohibited In Particular Sports P1. Alcohol (ethanol) P2. -Blockers

http://www.wada-ama.org

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Prohibited Substances

• S1. Anabolic agents– 1. Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS)

• a. Exogenous AASeg..nandrolone, 19-norandrostenedione, oxandrolone, stanozolol, and other substances with a similar chemical structure or similar biological effect(s)

• b. Endogenous AASeg. androstenediol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dihydrotestosterone, testosterone

– 2. Other Anabolic Agents• eg. clenbuterol

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Prohibited Substances

• S2. Peptide hormones, growth factors and related substances

– Includes1.erythropoiesis-stimulating agents [eg.erythropoietin (EPO)]

2.chorionic gonadotrophins and luteinizing hormone (LH) (males only)

3.corticotrophins (ACTH, tetracosactide)

4.growth hormone (hGH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)…….

and other substances with similar chemical structure or similar biological effect

• S3. Beta-2 agonists– All are prohibited except salbutamol (max 1600ug over 24h),

formoterol (max delivered dose 54ug over 24 h) and salmeterol by inhalation

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Drugs and Sport

• May of these drugs are illegal in both the eyes of the law and sport governing bodies

• Potentially serious medical risks– drugs are often taken at very high doses, considerably more than

is recommended– drug dependency

• Many of the drugs are expensive

• Many are bought on the black market– risk of drugs being mixed with other products– not purchasing the intended drug

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Drugs and Sport - Why?

• Person– desire to be successful– lack of confidence– dissatisfaction with performance and progress– belief that others are using drugs– think they can get away with it– influenced by others– psychological dependence– lack of knowledge about side effects

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Drugs and Sport - Why?• Environment

– culture of the sport– friends or other athletes using drugs – pressure to win (eg. from coach, friends, media)– influence of role models – financial reward– prestige and fame

• Pressure can appear from many directions– from self, coach, peers, family, spectators/crowd, media,

administrators/promoters, social, financial and material rewards, national/political/ideological

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Drugs in Sport• Do they work?

– difficult to assess• difficult to recreate competitive situation in lab• fractions of a second or millimetres in length -difficult to

detect significant changes in laboratory experiments• most evidence anecdotal• placebo effect• environmental conditions

– effects may vary between individuals• males vs females• age of athlete

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Drugs in Sport

• Do they work?– requirements of different sports will vary

• American footballer vs weightlifter

• sprinter vs marathon runner

– needs controlled scientific studies• limited number available

• conflicting results

• ethical problems– doses

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Problems with drug testing

• Inconsistencies between countries– out of competition testing– length of ban

• Inconsistencies between sports federations– rules for testing– sanctions– status of doping agents– threshold levels

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Difficulties with Testing• Endogenous substances

– what concentration is normal?– testosterone– human growth hormone (hGH)– erythropoietin (EPO)– athletes v general population

• Normal dietary intake– if people normally eat it can it be banned?

• caffeine, creatine

– does diet/exercise influence endogenous levels

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Testing

• Methods of testing– urine, blood

• Blood testing issues– legal – ethical – procedural– medical

• Need for improved – rules?, – education – research– co-operation

between• governments• sports federations• governing bodies

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Summary• Use of drugs in sport banned by IOC, International

and National Sport Federations/ Governing Bodies

• Drugs are potentially harmful to health and are considered to be ethically wrong

• Scientific evidence to support suggested beneficial performance effects of drugs is limited

• Further study required to assess both the suggested beneficial effects and the potential harmful effects