Effects of Drugs on Modern Day Olympics

Discuss the effect drugs have had on Modern International Sports Events such as the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games
Due to the high standards, professionalism and interest in high profile sporting events such as the Olympics, the Commonwealth games and Tour De France, some participants would take great risks, both legal and illegal to try and win the event, without knowing the consequences and side-effects of these risks. For example, some of the athletes taking part in these events went as far as drug doping to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors.
The use of drugs in sporting events started back when the origional Olympic games started (from 776 BC – 393 BC). The word “doping” comes from the Dutch word “doop” which was a viscious opium juice and the drug of choice for the ancient Greeks. (Bowers 1998).
The aim of this assignment is to highlight the main events in the history of drug doping, and the effects it has had on the modern day Sporting events. Due to people dying from doping such as Danish cyclist Knut Jensen and British cyclist Tommy Simpson, the sports governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee and the International Association of Athletes Federation decided to clamp down on drug use and introduced new rules and drug tests. A lot of high technology drug testing is now used in most professional sports in the modern day, to ensure that doping is at a minimum.
According to IAAF report (1996-2009) the IAAF became the first International Sporting Federation to try reducing the amount of doping through putting the following rule in its handbook in 1928;
“Doping is the use of any stimulant not normally employed to increase the poser of action in athletic competition above the average. Any person knowingly acting or assisting as explained above shall be excluded from any place where these rules are in force or, if he is a competitor, be suspended for a time or otherwise from further participation in amateur athletics under the jurisdiction of this Federation.” IAAF (1996-2009)
The ancient Olympians competed for cash prizes, olive wreaths and status in their home town. The Olympians would eat lots of meat and experiment with herbal medications to try and gain a better advantage over their competitors. They also drank wine potions, used hallucinogens and ate animal hearts or testicles to try and improve their performance. (Jenkins 1998) In the late 19th century, cocaine and related alkaloids were used from the coca leaf. It was believed that the coca and cocaine were used to reduce fatigue and hunger. (Murray 1983). The first person who died due to doping was Andrew Linton who was a Welsh cyclist which overdosed on Trimethyl in 1896. As drug doping became more popular in thhe 19th century, drugs such as strychnine, cocaine, nitroglycerine, digitalis and heroine were used by more different sports such as cyclists, runners, swimmers, ice skaters and boxers to enhance the sports persons performance. According to (Porterfield (2008) during the Olympics in 1904, Thomas Hicks who was an American runner won the marathon, however he collapsed shortly after finishing. This was due to the fact that before and during the race, his trainers twice dosed him with mixtures of strychnine and brandy which was a performance enhancing stimulant. It was believed that one more dose could have resulted with death.
According to (Menhard 2006) during the WWII Germany, Japan, Canada and the US soldiers all used amphetamine pills to make them more aggressive and reduce any fatigueness. The Germans used Testosterone, which helped the soldiers feel more aggressive and physically stronger. Due to further research about the Testosterone drug, Hitlers mental state was explained as before he died, he suffered many side-effects such as; being overly aggressive, violent behaviour, depression, suicidal ideologies, mania and paranoia.
The first affective strength producing drugs were Dianabol Steroids which were used by a US doctor and weightlifter John Bosley Ziegler in the 1960s. Ziegler promoted Dianabol Steroids to the American athletes, which bulked up to unusually big sizes, and couldn’t be detected in competition until the 1970s. (Harris 2009)
Within Olympic competitions, the first athlete to die from doping was the Danish cyclist Knut Jensen who died in 1960 during the summer Olympics in Rome. He died during the 100km trial race which was where he collapsed and fractured his skull. At first people thought this happened due to the high temperatures, however, the autopsy revealed there was the amphetamine drug Ronicol in his system. (Moller 2010)
The first person to die in completion of the Tour-De-France was British cyclist Tommy Simpson. Simpson died in the 13th stage of the cycling race due to consuming excessive amounts of amphetamines. Simpson was one of the best cyclists, with different achievements to his name such as; Bronze medallist in 1956 Sydney Olympics, Silver medallist in the 1958 Commonwealth Games and sports personality of the year in 1965. He collapsed off his bike, however with help from fans he climbed back on the bike and tried to go on and only managed to cycle another half a kilometre before collapsing again, but this time he died. (Rosen 2008)
Due to the death of Tommy Simpson and other athletes having bad reactions to amphetamine drugs, the International Olympic Committee realised something needed to be done to stop doping in sports. Three principals were introduced in 1967 which were; the defence of ethics, the protection of health of athletes and ensuring an equal chance for everyone. (Howard, Knuttgen, Tittel 1988) The first drug testing at the Olympic Games was at the winter games in Grenoble in 1968. (Dimeo 2006) This is where Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was named the first athlete to be tested positive for drug use. Due to being tested positive his whole team had been disqualified and stripped of the bronze medal which they had won in the pentathlon. (Porterfield 2008)
The first full scale drug testing’s were at the 1972 Montreal Olympics, where 2079 athletes were tested for narcotic analgesics and three classes of stimulants. The new testing process, seen 7 athletes disqualified from the competition. (Mottram 2003) This shows that the International Olympic Committee had started to make positive changes through reducing doping within sports.
In 1975 anabolic steroids were added to the International Olympic Committees list of banned substances. Tests for the anabolic steroids along with the other banned substances started at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. 786 drug tests were carried out on athletes and 11 of the athletes were disqualified for testing positive for banned substances, with 8 of the athletes found tested positive for the use of anabolic steroids. (Mottram 2003)
Due to the drug tests in the Olympics becoming more serious, athletes realised that it wasn’t worth getting disqualified from the competition, therefore in the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980, there was no report of any athletes testing positive for any banned substances. (Wilson, Derse 2001)
As drug testing become part of more sports events, surprise drug tests started to take cause. The first surprise drug test was in 1983 in the Pan American games. These surprise drug tests lead to 12 members of the US track and field events to withdraw themselves from the competition and a further 15 athletes being found positive for banned substances with 11 of these being weightlifters. Due to the amount of participants found positive for the banned substances and people withdrawing from the competition, the United States Olympic Committee announced that there would be random drug testing at any meets where the athletes qualify for places on the International teams. (Wilson, Derse 2001) This improved drug doping in the United States as the random drug test came as a big shock to the athletes, and the athletes realised it could affect their careers if they were caught doping as it could rule them out of being on the international team.
As the drug tests become a regular part of the Olympics and other international competitions, athletes tried to find ways around the system through providing doctors notes claiming they were prescribed the drugs. This first happened at the LA Olympics in 1984 when the team doctors from the USA and Switzerland both provided documentation explaining that their pentathlon teams needed beta-blockers for medical reasons. Beta-blockers are only prescribed for people with heart problems such as high blood pressure and angina. (Girginov, Parry 2005). Due to athletes abusing the system through the team doctors, athletes had to suffer the loss of medical benefits for example, Rex Williams who was a snooker player with genuine health problems used beta blockers during his career and he was disqualified from competition.
In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a further 10 athletes were tested positive for illegal substances. One of these was the 100m gold medallist Ben Johnston who was found positive for using the steroid Stanzolol. Johnston paid the price of having his gold medal taken from him along with a 2 year ban from competition, however he then returned to competition and was found positive of doping again in 1993 which is where he was then banned from competition for life. Wilson, Derse (2001). As the time went on, action against doping and drug use become more serious as in 1988 the anti-drug abuse act come in to place where drugs weren’t just banned from sports, but made illegal and banned in general from the public unless they were prescribed drugs. Penalties and fines were given to those found using the substances and those who sold the substances faced jail sentences. (Donovan 2001)
Due to the consequences athletes could face from doping, few athletes did it, however in 2004 Dwain Chambers who was a British sprinter was tested positive for the steroid THG which was a banned steroid which had been tweaked by chemists to make it undetectable by the normal dope tests. Chambers was banned from the Olympic Games for life (Girginov, Parry 2005) His ban could be withdrawn for the London 2012 Olympics according to (ORVICE 2012) The chart to the left shows the number of tests at each Olympic Games from when drug testing was introduced in 1968. Overall drug doping in the summer Olympic Games has increased by 0.27% from 1968 to 2008. To conclude: drug doping is always going to happen both inside and outside of sport, regardless of the consequences which athletes will face when they get caught. Athletes are supposed to be role models to young children who look up to them. Because of the popularity of the Olympic Games and other big international sports competitions, drug doping is taken a lot more seriously in the modern day to provide an equal chance for all participants in the events.
I. Summer Olympics Doping Cases | Year | Place | # of Drug Tests | # ofDoping Cases Reported | % ofDoping Cases Reported | 2008 | Beijing, China | 4,770 | 20* | 0.42% | 2004 | Athens, Greece | 3,667 | 26** | 0.74% | 2000 | Sydney, Australia | 2,359 | 11 | 0.47% | 1996 | Atlanta, USA | 1,923 | 2 | 0.10% | 1992 | Barcelona, Spain | 1,848 | 5 | 0.27% | 1988 | Seoul, S. Korea | 1,598 | 10 | 0.63% | 1984 | Los Angeles, USA | 1,507 | 12 | 0.80% | 1980 | Moscow, Russia | 645 | 0 | 0.00% | | | | | | 1976 | Montreal, Canada | 786 | 11 | 1.40% | 1972 | Munich, Germany | 2,079 | 7 | 0.34% | 1968 | Mexico City, Mexico | 667 | 1 | 0.15% | ----- | Total | 21,849 | 105 | 0.49% |
(International Olympic Committee 2010)

References
Bowers. (1998). Athletic Drug Testing. Clinics in Sports Medicine. 17 (2), 299.
Dimeo (2006). Drugs, Alcohol and Sport. Oxon: Routledge. 120-121
Donovan (2001). Taking Aim: Target Populations And the Wars on AIDS And Drugs. Washington DC: Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. 39.
Girginov, Parry (2005). The Olympic Games Explained. Oxon: Routledge. 186-190
Harris (2009). Players: 250 Men, Women and Animals Who Created Modern Sport. London: Yellow Jersey Press. 175
Howard, Knuttgen, Tittel (1988). The Olympic Book of Sports Medicine. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. 3
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International Olympic Committee. (2010). Doping Cases at the Olympics. Available: http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004420. Last accessed 17/04/12.
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Porterfield (2008). Doping: Athletes and Drugs. 2nd ed. US: ReadHowYouWant. 21-22.
Rosen (2008). Dope: A History of Performance Enhancement in Sport from Nineteenth Century to Today. Westport USA: Praeger Publishers. 31-34.
Wilson, Derse (2001). Doping in elite Sport: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Movement. USA: Human Kinetics Publishers. 77-90.

References: Bowers. (1998). Athletic Drug Testing. Clinics in Sports Medicine. 17 (2), 299. Dimeo (2006). Drugs, Alcohol and Sport. Oxon: Routledge. 120-121 Donovan (2001). Taking Aim: Target Populations And the Wars on AIDS And Drugs Girginov, Parry (2005). The Olympic Games Explained. Oxon: Routledge. 186-190 Harris (2009). Players: 250 Men, Women and Animals Who Created Modern Sport Howard, Knuttgen, Tittel (1988). The Olympic Book of Sports Medicine. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. 3 IAAF International Olympic Committee. (2010). Doping Cases at the Olympics. Available: http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004420. Last accessed 17/04/12. Porterfield (2008). Doping: Athletes and Drugs. 2nd ed. US: ReadHowYouWant. 21-22. Porterfield (2008). Doping: Athletes and Drugs. US: Read How You Want. 16. Jenkins. (2007). Winning, Cheating Have Ancient Roots. Available: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202497.html?nav=emailpage. Last accessed 12/03/2012. Menhard (2006). The facts about amphetamines. China: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 29. Moller (2010). The Ethics of Doping and Anti-Doping: Redeeming the sole of Sport?. Oxon: Routledge. 37. Mottram, Gunnell (1996). Drugs in Sport. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. 21. Mottram (2003). Drugs in Sport. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge. 309-315. Murray. (1983). The Coercive Power of Drugs in Sports. The Hastings Centre Report. 13 (4), 24. ORVICE . (2012). Dwain Chambers: It’s quite scary and I’m nervous about it. Available: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/article4187855.ece. Last accessed 17/04/12 Porterfield (2008). Doping: Athletes and Drugs Rosen (2008). Dope: A History of Performance Enhancement in Sport from Nineteenth Century to Today. Westport USA: Praeger Publishers. 31-34. Wilson, Derse (2001). Doping in elite Sport: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Movement. USA: Human Kinetics Publishers. 77-90.