thesis statement about doping in sports

• Share on twitter (New window)
• Share on facebook (New window)
• Share on email (New window)
• Share on linkedin (New window)
• Olympic Studies Center
• Other sites
• Olympic World Library Network
• Go to the menu
• Go to the content
• Go to the search
• OSC Catalogue
• INDERSCIENCE
• Search in all sources

Doping in sport : a behavioural economics perspective / Matthew Leadbetter

Leadbetter, Matthew

Edited by University of Kent - 2020

This thesis primarily aims to provide a solid theoretical understanding behind the incentive structures, decision making and rationality of athletes who decide to utilize doping decisions within a competitive sporting contest. This thesis analyzes the rationality behind eliciting a doping decision, outline a two-stage model of doping in sport in which athletes choose how much to dope and then how much effort to exert, with payoffs determined by an all-pay auction. The author also shows that a winner-takes-all prize structure leads to maximum effort (when effort can be monitored) but also maximum cheating when it cannot and explore the complimentary idea that people behave more dishonestly in a sporting environment than they do in other environments through theoretical and experimental analysis.

• Description
• A doctoral thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of philosophy in the School of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kent, 2020.
• Academic dissertations
• Export HTML
• Export RIS (Zotero)

Consult online

Issus de la même oeuvre, what do you think of this resource give us your opinion.

Fields marked with the symbol * are mandatory.

Export in progress

Change your review, memorise the search.

The search will be preserved in your account and can be re-run at any time.

Your alert is registered

You can manage your alerts directly in your account

Subscribe me to events in the same category

Subscribe to events in the category and receive new items by email.

Frame sharing

Copy this code and paste it on your site to display the frame

Or you can share it on social networks

• Share on twitter(New window)
• Share on facebook(New window)
• Share on email(New window)
• Share on print(New window)
• Share on linkedin(New window)

Confirm your action

Are you sure you want to delete all the documents in the current selection?

Choose the library

You wish to reserve a copy.

Register for an event

Registration cancellation.

Warning! Do you really want to cancel your registration?

Add this event to your calendar

Exhibition reservation.

Doping in Sport: A Behavioural Economics Perspective

Leadbetter, Matthew (2020) Doping in Sport: A Behavioural Economics Perspective. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. ( KAR id:79890 )

This thesis primarily aims to provide a solid theoretical understanding behind the incentive structures, decision making and rationality of athletes who decide to utilize doping decisions within a competitive sporting contest. This thesis analyzes the rationality behind eliciting a doping decision, outline a two-stage model of doping in sport in which athletes choose how much to dope and then how much effort to exert, with payoffs determined by an all-pay auction. We also show that a winner-takes-all prize structure leads to maximum effort (when effort can be monitored) but also maximum cheating when it cannot and explore the complimentary idea that people behave more dishonestly in a sporting environment than they do in other environments through theoretical and experimental analysis.

University of Kent Author Information

Leadbetter, matthew..

• Link to SensusAccess
• EPrints3 XML
• Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.

Doping Prevalence in Competitive Sport: Evidence Synthesis with "Best Practice" Recommendations and Reporting Guidelines from the WADA Working Group on Doping Prevalence

Affiliations.

• 1 Department of Kinesiology, California State University Fullerton, 800 N State College Blvd, Fullerton, CA, 92834, USA. [email protected].
• 2 Kingston University London, Kingston upon Thames, UK.
• 3 University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
• 4 Doping Authority Netherlands, Capelle aan den IJssel, The Netherlands.
• 5 Penn State University, State College, USA.
• 6 University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
• 7 University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
• PMID: 33900578
• DOI: 10.1007/s40279-021-01477-y

Background: The prevalence of doping in competitive sport, and the methods for assessing prevalence, remain poorly understood. This reduces the ability of researchers, governments, and sporting organizations to determine the extent of doping behavior and the impacts of anti-doping strategies.

Objectives: The primary aim of this subject-wide systematic review was to collate and synthesize evidence on doping prevalence from published scientific papers. Secondary aims involved reviewing the reporting accuracy and data quality as evidence for doping behavior to (1) develop quality and bias assessment criteria to facilitate future systematic reviews; and (2) establish recommendations for reporting future research on doping behavior in competitive sports to facilitate better meta-analyses of doping behavior.

Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to identify relevant studies. Articles were included if they contained information on doping prevalence of any kind in competitive sport, regardless of the methodology and without time limit. Through an iterative process, we simultaneously developed a set of assessment criteria; and used these to assess the studies for data quality on doping prevalence, potential bias and reporting.

Results: One-hundred and five studies, published between 1975 and 2019,were included. Doping prevalence rates in competitive sport ranged from 0 to 73% for doping behavior with most falling under 5%. To determine prevalence, 89 studies used self-reported survey data (SRP) and 17 used sample analysis data (SAP) to produce evidence for doping prevalence (one study used both SRP and SAP). In total, studies reporting athletes totaled 102,515 participants, (72.8% men and 27.2% women). Studies surveyed athletes in 35 countries with 26 involving athletes in the United States, while 12 studies examined an international population. Studies also surveyed athletes from most international sport federations and major professional sports and examined international, national, and sub-elite level athletes, including youth, masters, amateur, club, and university level athletes. However, inconsistencies in data reporting prevented meta-analysis for sport, gender, region, or competition level. Qualitative syntheses were possible and provided for study type, gender, and geographical region. The quality assessment of prevalence evidence in the studies identified 20 as "High", 60 as "Moderate", and 25 as "Low." Of the 89 studies using SRP, 17 rated as "High", 52 rated as "Moderate", and 20 rated as "Low." Of the 17 studies using SAP, 3 rated as "High", 9 rated as "Moderate", and 5 rated as "Low." Examining ratings by year suggests that both the quality and quantity of the evidence for doping prevalence in published studies are increasing.

Conclusions: Current knowledge about doping prevalence in competitive sport relies upon weak and disparate evidence. To address this, we offer a comprehensive set of assessment criteria for studies examining doping behavior data as evidence for doping prevalence. To facilitate future evidence syntheses and meta-analyses, we also put forward "best practice" recommendations and reporting guidelines that will improve evidence quality.

© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Publication types

• Meta-Analysis
• Systematic Review
• Doping in Sports*
• Surveys and Questionnaires

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

13.7 Cosmos & Culture

Legalize it: an argument for 'doping' in sports.

A victim of the confused thinking around performance-enhancing drugs? High jumper Dimitrios Chondrokoukis of Greece skipped the 2012 Olympics in London after failing an anti-doping test in the run-up to the games. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

A victim of the confused thinking around performance-enhancing drugs? High jumper Dimitrios Chondrokoukis of Greece skipped the 2012 Olympics in London after failing an anti-doping test in the run-up to the games.

Rocky's coach forbade him to have sex with his girlfriend while he was in training. Was this because he would be so tired out by sex? Or was it that the coach believed it would alter Rocky's drive, or mindset, somehow making him happy and relaxed, depriving him of the disturbed drive, the hunger, to win? I was just a kid when I saw the movie. I didn't really understand.

I don't remember our freshman-year track coach telling us anything about honor, spiritual cultivation or the joys of competition. I do remember him explaining the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, ways to control painful lactic acid build up and, of course, advice about what and when to eat before a meet.

Both these examples remind us that sports has never been concerned alone with what goes on in the ring, or on the field, but always also with the cultivation of oneself.

All sports are like Formula One . The goal is to win, but the project is to make the optimal vehicle, and then to learn how to use it and tune it and transform it (yourself!) into something capable of going just beyond the limits of what is possible. And so athletes — or rather their coaches and teams and cultures — study and experiment.

Biochemistry, nutrition, training regimens, all with an eye to self-transformation. Look at carbo-loading, for example. Swedish scientists back in the 1960s devised an elaborate system for maximizing glycogen levels in the muscles of marathon runners. The idea, roughly, was to run a long race about a week before the marathon, depleting the muscles of their glycogen stores. This was followed by a rest period with a very low carbohydrate diet. By now the muscles are starving for glycogen and are ready to take even larger amounts on board and store it up. Now the runner is ready to binge, eating as much high-carb foods as he or she can in the run-up to the race. This is an ingenious way to combine eating, resting, and running to jigger the body's default biochemistry and so to achieve a biochemical state of readiness for the start of the big race.

(For a great discussion of carbo-loading and the science behind and history of doping, see Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat: The Science Behind Drugs in Sport by Chris Cooper.)

From this standpoint, it is natural, appropriate and entirely in accord with the spirit of the project of athletic achievement to explore and then exploit the benefits afforded by new knowledge and new technologies. So-called blood doping — maximizing one's ability effectively to transport oxygen to the muscle fibers by blood transfusions (one's own, or someone else's) — is a brilliant and creative solution, an entirely natural next step once you've tapped out other techniques (such as sleeping at high altitudes, or in oxygen tents).

Why ban blood doping?

Because it isn't natural!

Nonsense! What is more natural than blood ?

Transfusion isn't natural though. It's medical. Scientific. It's icky. Syringes, hoses, blood. Yuck!

Is it natural to sleep in a tent with low oxygen levels? Or to take a cable car up to sleep and then back down to train?

What does natural mean today? What has it ever meant? Transfusion is used widely in our society as a therapy for a wide range of illnesses and complaints. It isn't strange, unheard of, foreign. It's a clever means to an end.

The thing is, you will say, the transfusions allows you achieve higher levels of red blood cells than you could through other training means, or that it allows you to reach higher levels in a shorter period of time.

And that's right. That's the point!

Athletes are clever and they don't give up. They find new ways, new solutions. That is the sport.

I honestly can't see any principled difference between blood doping, and carbo-loading or high-low altitude training. There is no principled difference.

And this is why athletes dope. Not because they are vain, or weak-willed, or set on taking what is rightfully someone else's. The project is to figure out a way to transform themselves so that they can do it better than anyone else. This is what they do.

Doping isn't cheating.

Of course, in a strictly legalistic sense, it may very well be cheating. If the rules say "no blood doping" then you break the rules if you transfuse.

But there are two points to be made about this.

First, you can't ban every new molecule, synthetic or otherwise, whose ingenious consumption can be shown, in combination with hard work, to improve performance. You can't ban ingenuity. And so you should not blame athletes for coming up with new cocktails that evade the letter of the law. This is what they do. This is how they think.

Second, why should blood doping, or EPO, or anabolic steroids, be banned in the first place? I don't believe there is a satisfactory justification for prohibition.

And this has two consequences.

The first is straight forward. Sporting authorities will never win the arms race. They'll always be one step behind the athletes. What they will do is destroy the careers of some athletes. They will humiliate them and dishonor them. But for every athlete they injure through disqualification there are others who will escape detection. (Bravo!)

The second consequence is more subtle. The anti-doping authorities will never convince the athletes that they shouldn't try to dope, just as they'll never convince them that it's wrong to think about food, sex and sleep in connection with training.

We treat athletes like tax cheats. But really they are just working the loop holes. As they must. This is what they do.

There are a good reasons not to take drugs to enhance athletic performance. It can be very dangerous, for one. But here's a news flash. Sports are not good for you . Athletes transform themselves into performance vehicles. Just look at the bodies of the athletes at this Olympics! Natural? No way. Examples of sound mind in a sound body? No way!

One last point: our prohibitionist attitudes are new — intimately connected to our society's fifty-year old demonization of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and such like — and the athletes permissive interest in recipes, cocktails and regimens for maximizing success is as old as the hills. In the future, I believe, and I hope, we'll look back on this anti-PED hysteria as a strange aberration, a sign of our moral immaturity.

Back to sex: banning drugs in sports is a bit like banning foreplay.

You can keep up with more of what Alva Noë is thinking on Facebook and on Twitter @alvanoe

• performance enhancing drugs

• Bibliography
• More Referencing guides Blog Automated transliteration Relevant bibliographies by topics
• Automated transliteration
• Relevant bibliographies by topics
• Referencing guides

Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Doping in sports Athletes Doping in sports'

Create a spot-on reference in apa, mla, chicago, harvard, and other styles.

Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Doping in sports Athletes Doping in sports.'

Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.

You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.

Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.

Olson, Cora Mae. "Ab-normal Athletes: Technomedical Productions of Gender, Sports, Fairness, and Doping." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/56632.

Brakeley, August Kashiwa. "Better, Stronger, Faster Explaining the Variance Between Professional and Amateur Anti-Doping Policies." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Political Science and Communication, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/1020.

Lee, Andrew Wei-Min. "Media reporting of drug use in sport : a discourse analytic study into stereotype construction /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1998. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09SPS/09spsl477.pdf.

Bailey, Raquisha Lynnette. "Prevalence & rationale of creatine use in DIII NCAA athletes." Cleveland, Ohio : Cleveland State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1211930080.

Fayolle, Laurie. "La protection des intérêts du sportif." Thesis, Montpellier, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015MONTD061.

Ritter, Andreas. "Wandlungen in der Steuerung des DDR-Hochleistungssports in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren." Phd thesis, Universität Potsdam, 2002. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2005/68/.

Rutecki, Jared W. "Enhancing the Agenda: A Content Analysis of Weekly Magazine Coverage of Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Competitive Athletics, 1986-2006." Ohio : Ohio University, 2009. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1241446015.

Marcolino, Paulo José Carvalho. "Factores psicológicos do doping-atitudes perante o doping no desporto." Master's thesis, Instituições portuguesas -- UTL-Universidade Técnica de Lisboa -- -Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, 2001. http://dited.bn.pt:80/29335.

Reis, Claúdia Gabriela Marques dos. "Atitudes face ao doping." Master's thesis, Instituições portuguesas -- UTL-Universidade Técnica de Lisboa -- -Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, 2001. http://dited.bn.pt:80/29391.

Momsen-Pflanz, Gundula. "Die sportethische und strafrechtliche Bedeutung des Dopings : Störung des wirtschaftlichen Wettbewerbs und Vermögensrelevanz /." Frankfurt am Main ; New York : P. Lang, 2005. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=014160558&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.

MacGregor, Oskar. "Anti-doping, whereabouts, and privacy : an ethico-legal analysis of WADA's whereabouts requirements." Thesis, Swansea University, 2013. https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42914.

Atry, Ashkan. "Transforming the Doping Culture : Whose responsibility, what responsibility?" Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Centrum för forsknings- och bioetik, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-206607.

Durussel, Jérôme. "A novel transcriptomic based approach to the detection of recombinant human erythropoietin doping." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2014. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4962/.

Lüer, Christoph. "Dopingstrafen im Sport und der Grundsatz "Ne bis in idem" : unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des WADA-Code und des NADA-Code /." Baden-Baden : Nomos-Verl.-Ges, 2006. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=015044702&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.

Jakobsson, Schulze Jenny. "Genetics of androgen disposition : implications for doping tests /." Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. http://diss.kib.ki.se/2007/978-91-7357-397-9/.

Bengtsson, Daniel. "Idrottande ungdomars attityd till doping : - En studie bland idrottsgymnasister i Karlstad och Torsby." Thesis, Karlstad University, Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-424.

Sports research in the field of social science has shown that regular physical activity leads to wellbeing and positively affects the quality of life. A natural part of being an athlete is learning the functions of the human body, and what’s harmful and destructive, such as drugs (RF 1995). Doping is a constant problem in professional sport. Doping and manipulation of medical preparations in order to maximise performance is one of modern sport’s major problems, according to Blom and Lindroth (1995).

I thought it would be interesting to see what the next generation of athletes thinks of doping. The purpose of this survey is to investigate the views on doping among adolescent athletes in ages 15-19. What do they think of it? Are they for or against it? Do they believe that doping is commonly used in elite competition? Would they consider using these substances themselves, if they were legalised?

The selection of participants is 130 adolescents in ages 15-19. (83 boys, 47 girls.) All respondents are students at upper secondary sports schools, competing in the following events: Alpine sports, soccer, track and field, ice hockey, biathlon, and cross-country skiing.

The foundation “Ren Idrott” has conducted a survey showing that as many as 86,3 percent of the respondents in ages 15-21 believe that doping is commonly or very commonly used in elite sports (RF 2005). The notion that using enhancements is necessary to become world champion did not have much support in this survey. Only 4 % stated that they would use preparations if it guaranteed them the world champion title. A whole 73% believed it would be easy to obtain preparations if one wanted to. Their primary reason to refuse preparationwas the risk of physical injury. A majority of the respondents felt that it is everyone’s individual choice whether to use them.All respondents considered doping in sports unacceptable. 11% of the respondents would however consider using preparations if they were legalised.

Kazlauskas, Alanah, and res cand@acu edu au. "The Dynamics of Expert Work: A case study of anti-doping laboratory directors." Australian Catholic University. School of Business and Informatics (NSW), 2007. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp142.08052008.

Soek, JanWillem. "The strict liability principle and the human rights of the athlete in doping cases." Rotterdam : Rotterdam : Erasmus Universiteit ; Erasmus University Rotterdam [Host], 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1765/7548.

Faria, Nuno Paulo Serrano. "Atitudes perante o doping no desporto-estudo em adolescentes dos 13 aos 15 anos." Master's thesis, Instituições portuguesas -- UTL-Universidade Técnica de Lisboa -- -Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, 2001. http://dited.bn.pt:80/29325.

Lobo, Pereira Vicente Joana Filipa. "Doping in sports : the effect of alcohol on the urinary increase of testosterone I epitestosterone." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2012. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/doping-in-sports(d31c6ea0-c5a1-4f4a-8244-0e09700ae24d).html.

Ramadas, Sílvio de Castro. "Aspectos psicológicos do doping no desporto-atitudes dos jovens entre os 16 e os 18 anos." Master's thesis, Instituições portuguesas -- UTL-Universidade Técnica de Lisboa -- -Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, 2001. http://dited.bn.pt:80/29509.

Pappa, Evdokia. "Sports spectacle, media and doping : the representations of Olympic drug cases in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008." Thesis, Brunel University, 2013. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7477.

Tutakhail, Abdulkarim. "Potential muscular doping effects of anti-depressants." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019SACLS513.

Coll, Camenforte Sergi 1991. "Studies on glucocorticoids in sports drug testing." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668183.

Barouillet, Bertrand. "La privatisation du droit : l'exemple de la lutte contre le dopage." Thesis, Université Côte d'Azur (ComUE), 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018AZUR0026/document.

Spence, John Cochrane. "Mood changes associated with anabolic-androgenic steroid use in male bodybuilders." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=60580.

Marcos, del Águila Josep. "Detecció del consum d'agents anabolitzants en humans: estratègies alternatives de preparació de mostres i anàlisi instrumental." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/22692.

Campos, Daniel Rossi de. "\"Detecção de esteróides androgênicos anabólicos por GC/MS em urina de esportistas e alterações séricas bioquímicas e hormonais\"." Universidade de São Paulo, 2004. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/9/9141/tde-09082006-131541/.

Demeslay, Julie. "Organiser la lutte antidopage à l’échelle internationale : une sociologie pragmatique d’un processus d’harmonisation." Thesis, Paris 10, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011PA100135.

Laure, Patrick. "Les représentations du dopage : approche psycho-sociologique." Nancy 1, 1994. http://www.theses.fr/1994NAN10003.

Belalcazar, Guerrero Viviana. "Validación y caracterización de un método inmuno-electroforético para la detección de eritropoyetina recombinante y análogos." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/7120.

Tampere, Klaas. "Le traitement juridique d'un fait de dopage." Thesis, Montpellier, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017MONTD046/document.

Gravisse, Nicolas. "Administration de DHEA chez le sujet jeune et sain : effets sur les performances sportives, la composition corporelle et les réponses hormonales." Thesis, Orléans, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018ORLE2059.

Darrioumerle, Guillaume. "La mondialisation de la lutte contre le dopage." Thesis, La Réunion, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018LARE0030.

Ripert, Prescilla Prisilla. "Le contrat de travail du sportif professionnel." Thesis, Bordeaux 4, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012BOR40005.

Kiss, Agneta Kristina. "Mise en place d'outils analytiques et chimiométriques pour les études métabonomiques de matrices biologiques complexes par Spectrométrie de Masse Haute-Résolution." Thesis, Lyon 1, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014LYO10125.

Favre, Armelle. "La communication engageante au service de la prévention des conduites dopantes chez des adolescents sportifs." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014AIXM3108.

Meziri, Fayçal. "Influence de l'érythropoïétine recombinante humaine sur les fonctions cardiovasculaire et rénale chez le rat présentant une dysfonction endothéliale : effets des interactions avec l'exercice chronique." Thesis, Avignon, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011AVIG0707/document.

Dadi, Hala. "Analyse par spectrométrie de masse des tubulines et de l'hormone de croissance." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018SACLS582.

Verchère, Raphaël. "Travail, ordre et discipline : la société sportive et ses tensions." Thesis, Lyon 3, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012LYO30051/document.

Soek, Janwillem. "The strict liability principle and the human rights of the athlete in doping cases Het "strict-liability"-beginsel en de mensenrechten van de atleet in dopingzaken /." 2006. http://www.oregonpdf.org.

Van, Aswegen Mariaan. "The knowledge, attitudes and use of performance enhancing substances and supplements among male high school first- and second team athletes in the central metropolitan area of Cape Town, South Africa." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15239.

Suchý, Aleš. "Doping na vrcholných světových soutěžích v atletice v 21. století." Master's thesis, 2018. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-382912.

Frydrychová, Zita. "Doping a management ve vrcholovém sportu." Master's thesis, 2017. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-353273.

Krupauerová, Martina. "Doping ve sportu a rozhodčí řízení s ním spojené." Master's thesis, 2016. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-346793.

He, Dongwan. "The impact of recent policy revisions addressing doping and gender rules on women track and field student-athletes in China." 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/30672.

Hunt, Thomas Mitchell 1978. "Drug games: the international politics of doping and the Olympic movement, 1960-2007." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3255.

Yatsynych, Oksana. "Revisão das características farmacológicas do Meldonium. Uso no desporto como doping." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/82169.

Ornstová, Kateřina. "Antidopingová praxe v řízení ruského sportu." Master's thesis, 2018. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-379241.

Lebl, Ondřej. "Mezinárodní sportovní právo s důrazem na problematiku dopingu ve sportu." Master's thesis, 2016. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-345384.

The Chinese swimming doping scandal: What we know about bombshell allegations and WADA's response

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is under fire this week after a pair of news outlets, including the New York Times , reported that 23 Chinese swimmers quietly tested positive for the same banned substance prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

WADA confirmed the substance of the news reports over the weekend , including the number of positive tests and the substance involved, trimetazidine. But it said it did not push for the swimmers to be punished at the time because it had accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation, which said the positive tests were caused by contamination at a hotel kitchen and the athletes were innocent.

WADA also said it did not have the power to disclose the positive tests, under current anti-doping rules, because China's anti-doping arm (CHINADA) ruled that no anti-doping violations were committed.

The scandal has sparked outrage in some corners of the anti-doping world, with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart among those criticizing WADA and CHINADA for "(sweeping) these positives under the carpet)." It's also raised both new and old questions about the convoluted processes and guardrails of the global anti-doping system, with the next Summer Olympics in Paris now less than 100 days away .

So what's all the hubbub about exactly? Here's a breakdown of what happened, what the key players have said and why the Chinese swimming case has inflamed so many long-standing frustrations in the world of Olympic sports.

When did this scandal start?

In a virtual news conference Monday , WADA offered a detailed timeline of the events courtesy of general counsel Ross Wenzel, who worked on the case for WADA as an outside lawyer prior to assuming his current role in 2022.

According to Wenzel, Chinese anti-doping authorities collected 60 urine samples at a national swimming meet that ended January 3, 2021. More than two months later, on March 15, CHINADA informed WADA that it had recorded 28 positive tests. In April, CHINADA said it would investigate, with the help of public health authorities.

By the end of May, CHINADA relayed the preliminary findings of its investigation, which found trace amounts of the banned substance at a hotel where all 23 of the athletes were staying − specifically, in spice containers at the hotel's kitchen and drainage units in its hotel. It informed WADA on June 15 that it would not be charging the swimmers with anti-doping violations, officially ruling that the positive tests were caused by environmental/food contamination.

What is trimetazidine, or TMZ?

If this substance sounds familiar, it's because it garnered headlines in another bombshell doping scandal not too long ago. Trimetazidine, or TMZ, was the banned substance at the heart of the controversy involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

TMZ is used to treat angina and other heart-related conditions and has been on WADA's prohibited substances list since 2014, because it can improve endurance and blood flow.

Valieva, who has since been banned for four years , claimed she unknowingly ingested TMZ through a strawberry dessert that was given to her by her grandfather.

How did it allegedly get into the Chinese swimmers' hotel kitchen?

In its investigation, Wenzel said CHINADA did not ask each of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for TMZ, individually, about how they might have ingested it. Athletes who claim contamination as the reason for a positive drug test are generally required to identify the potential or likely source of contamination.

Wenzel said CHINADA "didn't hypothesize in their report" why trace amounts of a banned heart medication were found in the kitchen of a hotel where elite swimmers were staying during competition.

"The ultimate source, meaning how the TMZ got into the kitchen, was not discovered," Wenzel said.

So what did WADA do? What could it have done?

WADA officials said that because of a surge in COVID-19 cases in the region at the time, they were not able to travel to China to investigate. They largely relied on CHINADA's reporting of the facts, which has since raised some eyebrows given the Chinese government's careful control of the sporting infrastructure there .

WADA's science department did some digging on the circumstances of the tests, the quantities involved and the substance itself. The department's head, Olivier Rabin, said his team contacted the original manufacturer of TMZ, which shared confidential and unpublished information about the substance. WADA also considered − and later ruled out − the possibility that athletes could have been microdosing.

WADA noted that all of the positive tests were limited to athletes who, according to CHINADA, stayed in the same hotel, while athletes who stayed in a different hotel did not test positive.

"All of those athletes were in the same place at the same time when the positives arose, and all of these sample results were at consistently low levels," Wenzel said.

WADA could have challenged CHINADA's decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). But Wenzel said it decided in early July not to do so, because it couldn't find sufficient evidence to prove that this wasn't a case of contamination and its lawyers believed that such an appeal would almost certainly fail.

WADA accepted CHINADA's decision not to punish its athletes, considered the athletes innocent for all intents and purposes, and did not publicly acknowledge the case prior to the start of the 2021 Olympics later that month. China's 30-person swimming team went on to win six medals at the Tokyo Games, including three golds.

Why wasn't this disclosed at the time?

Here's where this all gets pretty complicated. While WADA is at the top of the anti-doping food chain, much of the actual system is facilitated by national anti-doping bodies like CHINADA or USADA. WADA essentially makes the rules and ensures they're being followed.

National anti-doping bodies are required to publicly disclose when an athlete tests positive for a banned substance, even if they determine that the anti-doping violation wasn't the athlete's fault. However, if the anti-doping body determines that no violation occurred in the first place, they don't have to say anything. And that's what happened here.

WADA officials said they couldn't have publicly disclosed anything about the case unless CHINADA did so, or they decided to take it to CAS. Neither occurred, so WADA stayed quiet for nearly two years, until news reports emerged over the weekend.

"It's a question about whether you want or not to expose the innocent athletes, right?" WADA president Witold Banka said Monday. "We have to take into account that through publishing the names of athletes without anti-doping rule violations, you expose the innocent athletes and you can damage their image. So this is a discussion which is very important, and our role is to protect innocent athletes as well."

What have U.S. officials said?

Tygart, USADA's chief executive officer, has been a frequent critic of WADA. And he did not hold back here, describing the handling of the Chinese swimmers' cases as "crushing" and a "potential cover-up."

That first statement sparked an incendiary back-and-forth with WADA over much of Saturday, in which WADA took the unusual step of releasing a statement purely to bash Tygart and USADA . Specifically, it called his statement "defamatory" and "politically motivated." Tygart then released his own statement , chalking WADA's up to "scare tactics."

"When you blow away their rhetoric, the facts remain as have been reported: WADA failed to provisionally suspend the athletes, disqualify results, and publicly disclose the positives," Tygart said Saturday afternoon. "These are egregious failures, even if you buy their story that this was contamination and a potent drug ‘magically appeared’ in a kitchen and led to 23 positive tests of elite Chinese swimmers."

Officials in the U.S. government are also monitoring the situation. Rahul Gupta, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told The New York Times on Monday that he plans to address WADA's handling of the case with some of the organization's top officials during an event in Washington later in the week.

"The United States stands by its commitment to ensure that every American athlete and those across the globe are provided a level playing field and a fair shot in international athletic competitions," Gupta told the newspaper.

How is this different from the Kamila Valieva case?

WADA stumped for Valieva to be punished in her case, and there have been questions about how its handling of the Chinese swimmers' positive tests could potentially influence Valieva's appeal − or give her grounds to claim that she was treated unfairly.

Wenzel said there were key differences in the Valieva case, however, some of which are fairly technical. In Valieva's case, for instance, Wenzel said WADA wasn't able to rule out the possibility that Valieva had knowingly ingested TMZ several days before she tested positive, and the reasoning she initially gave for the positive test wasn't supported by "the pharmacological secretion profile of TMZ."

What happens next?

In the short-term, probably nothing. None of the parties involved seem interested in relitigating the facts of the case. WADA officials spent nearly two hours Monday defending their handling of it, and Banka said: "If we had to do it over again now, we would do exactly the same thing."

Several government and anti-doping officials, however, have called for an independent investigation into the matter. On Tuesday morning, USADA issued a lengthy statement lobbying for both the appointment of an independent prosecutor to review the Chinese swimming case and an overhaul of WADA itself.

"The selective and self-serving application of the rules we heard about yesterday destroys public trust in the authenticity and value of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement," USADA said in a statement.

This scandal figures to raise plenty of questions in the leadup to this summer's Games, which begin July 26, and could lead to some uncomfortable moments when Chinese swimmers line up to compete in Paris.

There is also a slight chance that it could result in a federal investigation in the U.S. Under the Rodchenkov Act, passed in 2020, the Justice Department can pursue criminal prosecution in international doping incidents that might have impacted U.S. athletes.

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on social media @Tom_Schad .

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Chinese doping case sparks unusually harsh spat between global and US drug-fighting agencies

FILE - A Chinese flag is unfurled on the podium of a swimming event final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on July 29, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. An Australian newspaper said Saturday, April 20, 2024, 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive to doping because world governing bodies agreed with Chinese authorities and ruled that the tests had been contaminated.(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart testifies during The Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. WADA said Saturday, April 19, 2024, it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

FILE - In this March 18, 2019, file photo, then-Poland’s Sports Minister Witold Banka, now head of WADA, the gestures during an interview in Warsaw, Poland. WADA said Saturday, April 19, 2024, it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

• Copy Link copied

DENVER (AP) — Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the head of the U.S. drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics.

WADA said Saturday it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.”

The allegation was made after WADA acknowledged it had cleared 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for a banned heart medication to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after agreeing with that country’s authorities that the samples had been contaminated.

WADA defended its process, and said it acted in good faith and according to due process when it decided not to challenge the Chinese explanation for the positives. It then turned its attention to Tygart, saying his comments were politically motivated and that it “is astonished by the outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks” he made.

WADA pointed out that USADA has, several times over the years, accepted “similar conclusions of contamination involving a number of U.S. athletes” and that Tygart “should realize that it is not only American athletes who can fall victim to situations of no-fault contamination.”

Tygart came back with another statement, noting the difference between USADA’s handling of contamination cases and this one. The Chinese case involves a medication called trimetazidine (TMZ) that was also at the center of the case that led to the suspension of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.

TMZ is a well-known prescription medication for people with heart disease. It is known to help athletes improve stamina and decrease recovery times. Its use comes with the most stringent penalties under anti-doping rules.

Tygart said USADA’s previous contamination cases have not involved TMZ.

“And, most importantly, in all contamination cases that we have proven, we provisionally suspended the athlete, disqualified the results, found a violation, and issued an announcement as required by the rules,” he said.

None of that happened in the case of the Chinese swimmers, whose cases weren’t publicly revealed until reports by The New York Times and Daily Telegraph in Sydney surfaced Saturday.

In explaining its handling of the case, WADA conceded there were difficulties in conducting investigations in China because of restrictions there due to a COVID-19-related lockdown that was in place in early 2021 when the positive tests were uncovered. It said it consulted with lawyers who advised that appealing the case was not warranted.

The disagreement is the latest chapter in years of sparring between WADA and Tygart, who has long felt WADA did not go tough enough on Russia after its government-sponsored doping scheme at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 was uncovered.

Another undercurrent of this case is the chance it could wind up in American court. Under a U.S. law enacted in 2020 that was widely criticized by WADA , federal prosecutors can bring charges in doping cases that show a conspiracy to taint an international event involving U.S. athletes.

“All of those with dirty hands in burying positive tests and suppressing the voices of courageous whistleblowers must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the rules and law,” Tygart said.

But WADA was clearly thinking of different legal options when it shot back at Tygart.

“It should be noted that following Mr. Tygart’s false allegations, WADA has no choice but to refer this matter to its legal counsel for further action,” the WADA news release concluded, with the paragraph written in bold, black print.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

• Summer Sports

WADA confirms it cleared Chinese swimmers who tested positive before Tokyo 2020

Swim canada says 'exceptions must be communicated transparently'.

Social Sharing

Swimming Canada has issued a statement calling for more transparency following Saturday's revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned heart medication.

The national governing body said it is "committed to clean sport and the strict enforcement of anti-doping rules to maintain a level playing field.

"Rules must be applied equitably across high performance sport, and exceptions must be communicated transparently. Doping can deprive clean athletes of hard-earned moments they deserve, such as standing on the podium and the life-changing opportunities that may follow."

Swimming Canada also noted it is seeking further information about the ruling from the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), World Aquatics, which governs international swimming, and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and Sport Canada.

"It is of paramount importance that athletes who train and compete according to the principles of clean sport be respected," the release said.

The swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine in the months leading up to the start of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said after reviewing a television documentary and newspaper reports it stands by its decision to clear the swimmers and did so because it agreed with Chinese authorities and ruled their samples had been contaminated.

'No basis to challenge Chinese agency's findings'

• WADA confirms it cleared Chinese swimmers for 2021 Olympics despite positive doping tests
• Valieva doping case has WADA targeting new rules before 2026 Olympic figure skating event

WADA said based on available scientific evidence and intelligence, "which was gathered, assessed and tested by experts in the pharmacology of trimetazidine (TMZ); and, by anti-doping experts," it had no basis under the global anti-doping code to challenge the Chinese agency's findings of environmental contamination.

WADA said its position in the latest Chinese case was also accepted by World Aquatics.

COC, COC AC gathering information

In a joint statement, the COC and COC Athletes' Commission said they are in touch with various partners in order to obtain more information about the matter.

"The [COC] and the COC Athletes' Commission are committed to clean, fair, and safe sport, and take matters of doping or any other form of cheating extremely seriously," read a statement from the two organizations on Monday.

"The reports in the ARD documentary are concerning and were not previously known to us. We are in communication with national and international sport partners, including Swimming Canada and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, to gather more information and determine potential next steps."

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin described the media reports as "disinformation and a misrepresentation," and affirmed WADA's decision.

Wang said China's anti-doping authorities investigated the incident and found the positive results were due to "the ingestion of contaminated food by the relevant athletes without knowledge of the contaminated food, and the Chinese swimmers involved were not at fault or negligent, which did not constitute a doping violation."

WADA scheduled a news conference in Montreal for later Monday, saying its president, Witold Banka, and director general Olivier Niggli would be among the officials on hand to answer questions, also its top prosecuting lawyer and head of investigations.

The 30-member Chinese swim team won six medals in Tokyo, including three gold.

Many of the athletes still compete for China and are expected to swim at the Paris Olympics that start in July.

With files from The Associated Press

Related Stories

• Kenyan-born world champion runner to have doping hearing 5 weeks before Paris Olympics
• Curler Briane Harris faces 4-year suspension after testing positive for banned substance, plans to appeal
• Stricter drug testing before Paris Olympics ordered for specific track and field athletes
• World champion steeplechaser cleared of doping over claims of ulcers, COVID-19
• More Olympic sports coverage

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

Get up to speed on what's happening in sports. Delivered weekdays.