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Detection and Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Posted November 19th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui
Section: News & Results, Drugs In Sports
World records in sports are broken by better athletes, better training methods, better nutrition or new drugs. Drugs appear to be the cause of many recent records in sports requiring strength and speed. Many bicycle racers know that some drugs that make them better riders can’t be detected by testing techniques that are available today.
A recent study shows that laboratories have no definitive test to discover athletes who take erythropoietin (EPO), a drug to boost their red blood cell counts (Haematologica, August, 2006). Athletes have found that taking very low doses of EPO daily will raise red blood cell counts, and will not give test results high enough to show that they are taking extra EPO.
The primary limiting factor to how fast a person can ride a bicycle over long distances is the time it takes to move oxygen from the lungs into the muscles. So anything that increases oxygen transport from the lungs into the bloodstream, or carries more oxygen in the bloodstream, or moves oxygen faster from the blood into muscles will make a person a faster bicycle racer. Since more than 95 percent of the oxygen in the bloodstream is carried by hemoglobin in red blood cells, anything that increases the concentration of red blood cells will help a racer ride faster. Read the rest of this entry »
How does testosterone and/or EPO affect athletes?
Posted November 16th, 2006 at 10:30 AM by Martha Jones
Section: News & Results, Health & Fitness, Drugs In Sports
After Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was alleged to have taken testosterone, several physicians were widely quoted in the media stating that taking testosterone for one day cannot improve performance. They are wrong. After multiple Olympic gold medal winning sprinter Marion Jones tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), many physicians stated that EPO doesn’t help sprinters. They are also wrong. (She was cleared because her second sample tested negative.)
Such lack of knowledge reminds me of the early 1970s, when the East Germans and Russians won just about every sports event that required strength. Many American physicians were widely quoted as saying that synthetic testosterone does not make athletes stronger. The athletes thought that these physicians were misguided because soon after starting to take synthetic male hormones, they could observe spectacular improvements in their own performances. Athletes train by taking a hard workout that damages muscles, feeling sore on the next day, than going easier until the soreness diminishes, and then going hard again. As soon as an athlete starts to take anabolic steroids, he notices that he recovers much faster than before, so he can do more intense training which makes him a better athlete. Read the rest of this entry »
Dear Marion Jones: PLEASE Listen to Mr. Johnson & HANG UP YOUR SPIKES!
Posted October 2nd, 2006 at 12:01 AM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns, Drugs In Sports
Dear Marion:
Please listen to and comply with the following advice from the world’s 200m and 400m record holder - Mr. Michael Johnson:
“For the sake of her own well-being and the sport, it would be best if she went away quietly.”
Johnson is giving you VERY sound guidance. Your reputation is beyond repair. Track and field has had MORE than enough negative news coverage. You have gone through more than enough. Your alleged connections to BALCO, your name being dragged through the mud because of Tim Montgomery and then most recently the circus surrounding your 1/2 negative (AND 1/2 positive) test for EPO (erythropoietin). Enough is enough.
Marion Jones Cleared of Drug Charges
Posted September 7th, 2006 at 9:34 AM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports
It seems as if each day brings another sports related drug scandal. It has almost become a rule that the athletes will of course deny the charges and tell the public to wait for their ‘B’ sample. Their ‘A’ sample is always an “anomaly” - a declaration that seems to carry as much credibility as Rafael Palmeiro.
However, just when you think that all sports are dirty - that athletes will do just about anything (legal or not) to gain an advantage - an athlete is ACTUALLY found to be clean. Regardless of her possible connections to BALCO and what the media is constantly saying about her - Marion Jones has always claimed that she never took performance enhancing drugs. Her assertions seemed to be as hypocritical as Justin Gatlin when she tested positive for the endurance-performance drug erythropoietin (EPO) on June 23rd. However, her ‘B’ sample was found to have no traces of the banned substance.
Jones Fails Drug Test, Faces 2yr Ban
Posted August 25th, 2006 at 10:52 AM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports
Marion Jones has failed a test for erythropoietin (EPO), an endurance boosting drug.
However, only after the second half of her sample, the backup sample is tested, would Jones be charged with a doping violation.
If EPO is found in the B sample as well, she would face a two-year ban from track and field.
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Picture from: [NY Times]
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On January 9, 2009
Vry Disgusted said:
Why are you flogging this junk? What will be next - first we have flavored water - now jazzed...