DOPING

The Use of Drugs to Improve Sporting Performance

Knud Jensen

In the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Danish cyclist Knud Jensen became the first

recorded death at the modern Olympics after collapsing from an amphetamine

overdose.

Tommy Simpson

The motto “if it takes 10 to kill you, take 9 and win” is associated with Tommy

Simpson (British cyclist and Olympian).

He died during the 1967 Tour de France after consuming excessive amounts of

amphetamines and brandy to combat the effects of an illness.

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong claimed that it was impossible to win the Tour de France without

taking drugs.

The attitude isn’t a new one.

Doping at the original Olympics

Aretaeus of Cappadocia, a 1st century ancient Greek physician, wrote this:

It’s a version of “bit of sunshine is good for the soul” but here’s the quote we’re

interested in:

“For it is the semen (which makes you) … well braced in limbs … spirited, strong

to think and to act … bold, daring, and strong as wild beasts, as is proved from

such of the athletes … an animal becomes strong from nothing else than from

semen. … Vital semen, then, contributes much to health, strength, courage, and

generation.”

In ancient Greece the original Olympiads were aware that heightened levels of what

we now call testosterone would increase performance.

Back in 700 BC there are no syringes or hormones in injectable liquid form.

Contemporary reports mention athletes eating animal testicles.

I’ll eat it or drink it if it’ll make me win

Athletes ate fungi and potions (some hallucinogenic or poisonous) in an attempt to

improve their performance.

Bread would be prepared with opium from poppies inside.

Galen, a prominent ancient Greek physician, prescribed “the rear hooves of an

Abyssinian ass, ground up, boiled in oil, and flavoured with rose hips and rose

petals” for a performance-enhancing tonic.

Some of the things they did were actually quite sensible. Athletes competing in

endurance events like long distance running were given honey for a carbohydrate

and glucose boost.

The Olympics in the modern era

By the time the Olympics were modernized some 2,000 years later (Athens 1896),

teams and coaches were still doping their athletes and developing their own

performance enhancing recipes.

Thomas Hicks (brandy and strychnine)

In 1904, at the St. Louis games, marathon runner Thomas Hicks narrowly avoided

death after downing a mixture of brandy and the stimulant strychnine.

Strychnine is fatal in high doses but was common among dopers along with cocaine,

caffeine (which we’ll look at later) and heroin.

In 1928, 32 years after the first modern Olympiad, the International Association of

Athletics Federation (IAAF) acknowledged there was a serious problem and tried to

stop doping by athletes but the methods were becoming more sophisticated and in

some cases were state sponsored. When Adolf Hitler hosted the Berlin Olympics in

1936 the Nazi party were testing anabolic steroids on prisoners.

The Introduction of Drug Tests

In 1967 (the year that cyclist Tommy Simpson died) the International Olympic

Committee (IOC) set up a Medical Commission which banned the use of drugs and

other performance enhancing substances.

Small-scale testing was introduced at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, followed by a full-

scale testing at the next games in Munich, 1972.

Caffeine was added to the prohibited substances list in 1983 but removed in 2004.

It’s an ingredient in so many things (coffee, tea, chocolate and chocolate based

drinks, carbonated and energy drinks) that even athletes who weren’t doping with it

might test positive for it.

What is Caffeine?

Caffeine is a naturally occurring substance found in over 60 different plants.

It is a stimulant and mild diuretic (increases the amount of urine you make).

When caffeine was on the prohibited substances list athletes were limited to a urine

level below 12 micrograms per millilitre.

This is equivalent to 6-8 cups of coffee (600-800 mg).

Performance enhancing effects have since been proven at a much lower intake,

between 2-4 cups of coffee (200-400 mg).

It has been suggested that since it was removed from the prohibited list, its use has

dramatically increased.

Caffeine Effects on Performance

During periods of 30-120 minutes caffeine has been shown to produce the following

benefits:

Improved muscle contractibility

Increased time to exhaustion

Improved concentration

Enhanced alertness

Reduced fatigue

In the short-term (under 30 minutes) caffeine can have a detrimental effect on some

aspects of performance, for example fine motor control and technique due to over-

stimulation.

Side-Effects of Caffeine

Abdominal pain

Diarrhoea

Dehydration

Restlessness, anxiety & irritability

Headaches

High blood pressure

Interference with recovery and sleep patterns

Palpitations

Increased muscle tension

Caffeine Doping in Sport

You work out the dosage by the weight of the athlete.

Recommended dosage 3 mg – 9 mg of caffeine per kg of weight

There’s been a lot of research done on caffeine doping.

There is no additional benefit to be had by taking more than 9mg per kg.

Anyone doing that is just risking the chance of experiencing something on the list of

side effects.

e.g. If an athlete weighs 70 kg and we go for a dosage of 6 mg per kg

6 x 70 = 420 mg

(A teaspoonful of instant coffee has about 70 mg of caffeine in it)

ONLINE TEST

There is an online test here.

It will give you an onscreen mark immediately

It has the same questions as the 6 below.

How many mg of caffeine would be needed for:

Q1. A dosage of 3 mg per kg for an athlete weighing 80 kg? …………

Q2. A dosage of 6 mg per kg for an athlete weighing 75 kg? …………

Q3. A dosage of 9 mg per kg for an athlete weighing 95 kg? …………

The drink Monster has 36mg of caffeine per 100g.

1 ml of water weighs 1 g (and Monster is mostly water).

Q4. Estimate the amount of caffeine in a 500 ml can of Monster? …………

There’s no research showing any benefit for a dosage of more than 9 mg per kg.

Q5. How many mg of caffeine would this be for an athlete weighing 60 kg? …….

Q6. An 80 kg athlete has taken 240 mg of caffeine. How many mg per kg is this?

Hint: in “mg per kg” the word “per” means “divide”

Divide mg (dose) by kg (weight) …………