Athletes taking athletic performance enhancing drugs in sports, otherwise known as doping, has long been a hard issue to tackle. With the recent accusations against Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, a question remains: “how do we prevent athletes from using these drugs in the first place?”
Performance enhancing substances have been used as far back as in ancient Greece where stimulants were used to boost athletic capabilities. It wasn’t until the 1920s that doping in sports was considered a serious issue, and the International Association of Athletics Federations decided to ban it in 1928.
At the 1998 Tour de France, a major drug scandal involving many cyclists participating highlighted the importance of controlling the use of performance enhancing drugs. In 1999, the World Anti-Doping Agency was established.
Since then, numerous accusations of wdoping have been brought forth. One of the most infamous cases was against Lance Armstrong, an American cyclist who admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2013 to using Erythropoietin (EPO), blood transfusions and other banned substances. EPO increases the number of red blood cells in the body and greatly enhances aerobic function.
“Clear rules about which substances are banned or okay to use for medical cases need to be in place”
There are a wide range of athletic performance enhancing drugs. The most common are androgenic agents that increase muscle size and strength and aid in recovery. Other drugs include stimulants and growth hormones. Most, if not all, of these substances can have devastating side effects including high blood pressure, organ failure and may even lead to death.
The problem is many of these substances have legitimate medical uses, so finding out an athlete’s reason for using a drug can be difficult.
In 2014, Yang tested positive for the use of stimulant trimetazidine, but claimed that he was using it for heart palpitations. He was issued a three month suspension for failing to report his usage of the substance. Yang went on to win one gold and one silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Clear rules about which substances are banned or okay to use for medical cases need to be in place. In addition, communication between athletes and doping control officers need to be present so that athletes with health problems that need a regulated drug can be exempt from punishments for using that substance.
However, in 2018, Yang was under fire for multiple offences including breaking a vial of his blood sample with a hammer. At the 2019 World Championships, two competitors, Australian Mack Horton and British Duncan Scott, refused to stand on the podium with him after their race. Many other swimmers including British Adam Peaty and South African Chad le Clos also criticized Yang.
I agree with the intent of their protests, but at the time not much information was known regarding Yang’s incident with the blood sample. Athletes have a duty to promote clean sport, and they were rightfully outraged that Yang hadn’t been punished for what he did.
On Feb. 28, 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Yang would receive a career-ending eight-year ban, and Yang took to social media to express his outrage with the ruling. The ban seems quite harsh since there was no evidence that Yang was doping at the time and further investigation needed to be done before a ruling was made.
Yang appealed his case to the Swiss Federal Tribunal which overturned the CAS’s decision in December of 2020. With Yang facing another trial against WADA, what could have been done to clear up this issue?
Yang had a reason to be angry. There was a clear lack of communication and transparency on the part of the doping control officers. On multiple accounts, the officials lacked full profiles including missing photos on their contact information as well as insufficient identification. Had the doping control officials been properly authorized to investigate, they should have been able to prove that they were on the spot. In addition to that, one of the doping control assistants who was tasked to watch him urinate was caught taking photos and videos of him which was unprofessional and a blatant intrusion of his privacy.
“Educating athletes to adopt an anti-cheating mindset … [and] teaching them the importance … of hard work in athletics should be a top priority”
All of these factors combined highlight the importance of transparency between an athlete and doping control organizations. In Yang’s case, the doping control officials should have planned testing for a later date and proved that they were authorized to take his tests. In the long run, agencies like WADA should send communications to athletes, no matter how experienced they are with drug testing, outlining who is going to be testing them and what they have to do.
Educating athletes to adopt an anti-cheating mindset from a young age, as well as teaching them the importance and value of hard work in athletics, should be a top priority for sports federations and coaches around the world. Teaching all athletes about the consequences of doping is vital in its prevention.
Strict policies regarding the use of these substances also need to be in place in order to punish athletes who do cheat. Communication between all parties including the athletes, WADA, their sport and the government needs to be encouraged to avoid cases like Yang’s in the future.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and others already have resources available including a clear list of banned substances and guidelines regarding therapeutic use, as well as education regarding nutrition and other aspects of sports.
The fight against doping in sports is a challenging and complex issue to deal with, and it will require the efforts of everyone involved in order to make sports clean and fair.
