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May 15, 2009
We saw about the doping tests, how it was implemented in the previous post. Many Olympic medalists lose their medals, and of course, their recognition due to the usage of these banned steroids. In the 1990s, as improved doping tests made it harder to get away with such cheating, the results achieved by top-level athletes in some sports showed a notable decline. So far, it is unclear how long athletes have been taking THG (tetrahydrogestrinogine), or how widespread its abuse. The scandal regarding those athletes who used THG prompted USATF to announce a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on doping. It included plans to impose lifetime bans on athletes who had been caught using illegal substances. The side-effects of steroids range from liver and kidney cancer to infertility, baldness and even transmission of HIV (if the syringes used to inject the drug are shared). But there seems no limit to the lengths that some athletes are driven by their will to win. Even they tried “blood boosting” –re-infusing themselves with their own blood to boost the level of oxygen, a practice banned by the International Olympic Committee in 1986. Though a test for THG has been developed, there are worries that some athletes are taking human growth hormone. The race to keep up with the drug cheats looks like going on forever.
