injuryupdate
13-08-2004, 10:13 PM
The latest drug scandals to rock cycling, involving Australian Olympic athletes, have placed the sports' credibility at an all-time low. The biggest apparent problem is that it is almost accepted as a given in cycling that most competitors will be taking the so-called 'undetectable' performance enhancers such as growth hormone and EPO. Although there are now tests for EPO, they are flawed and very poor at being able to establish proof of usage, whereas there are no tests for growth hormone. Cycling also has an 'upper safety limit' for hematocrit, which is thickness of the blood, that is highly suspicious of EPO usage (but does not prove it). A rider over the safety limit does not get suspended (as drug use can't be established) but must not compete until the blood thins. The safety limit was brought in out of frustration of being unable to detect EPO and for genuine concern at the rate of cyclists who genuinely drop dead at a young age due to the side effect of having overly-thickened blood. Cycling has now entered a phase where the riders will be treated like common criminals, with room raids and private detectives being the means by which most convictions are made, because drug testing seems to be so impotent. However, this is not a level playing field. It has taken many years to get recalcitrant countries to agree to out-of-competition drug testing (and in the case of the USA, to actually agree to reveal and suspend the athletes they have caught over the limit in random tests). Certain countries will be prepared to smash the doping network in cycling and other similar sports, whereas others will allow it to go on, and presumably their drugged-up riders will do well out of it. The biggest cloud probably sits above many of the individual power and endurance sports in the Olympics other than cycling, including athletics and (dare we say it) swimming. If we presume that cycling is dirty to the core, then why would swimming or running be any different? The latest cycling controversy has split the swimming world, with Kieran Perkins suggesting that most athletes are clean, but Dawn Fraser saying we are kidding ourselves if we believe that to be the case.