Summary on Project I decided to do my project on Doping in Sports. Doping is a very controversial topic in sports, mainly baseball and the Olympics. Doping refers to the act of using performance enhancing drugs to gain an unfair advantage over your opponent. Some examples of doping substances include anabolic steroids, erythropoietin (EPO), tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) and modafinil. Some substances are legal in small doses such as alcohol and caffeine. Another form of “doping” is blood doping. Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells (RBCs) in the circulation in order to enhance your athletic performance.
Since they carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, more RBC’s in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity and stamina. Another form of blood doping is using the hormone erythropoietin (EPO). Considered doping by many would be using substances that mask or hide substances tested for doping. There have been many organizations that are now fighting against the use of doping substances and masking agents. The first international governing body of sports to take the situation seriously was the International Amateur Athletic Federation (now know as the International Association of Athletics Federations).
In 1928, they banned participants from doping. But since at the time there was little way of testing if an athlete was clean or not, most of the time, they would have to take their word for it. From there, nobody really did much about it until 1966. FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) and Union Cycliste Internationale joined the IAAF in the fight against drugs and doping in sports. The following year, the International Olympic Committee joined in the fight. Progress in pharmacology has always made it difficult for sports federations to implement rigorous and thorough testing procedures.
Since the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999, more and more athletes are being caught. The very first tests for athletes were at the 1966 European Championships. Two years later, the IOC implemented their first drug tests at both the summer and Winter Olympics. Since anabolic steroids became prevalent in the 1970’s, a method of detection was developed and they were also added to the IOC’s prohibited substance list in 1976. www. wikipedia. com/doping_in_sports. html.