IT鈥橲 fashionable to talk of the Olympics as a contest between rival drugs
technologies, rather than a showcase for raw sporting talent. But if you think
Sydney is awash with pill-popping competitors with syringes strapped to their
thighs, you鈥檇 probably be wrong.
Life for a sports-junkie isn鈥檛 getting any easier, despite the Olympic
authorities鈥� tortoise-like reaction to calls for comprehensive drugs testing.
For the first time ever, both blood and urine samples are being collected from
athletes before and after competitions. There鈥檚 the usual unrelenting press
interest in drugs scandals. And the tests themselves are getting sharper all the time
(see 鈥淒rug buster鈥�).
Why? One critical nugget of information seems to get lost in any talk about
drugs in sport: most performance-enhancers are not sophisticated medicines
cooked up in underground research labs. They were developed decades ago by drugs
companies and are used to treat genuine medical disorders. In many countries
they can be bought from chemists without a prescription. There are already tests
for athletes favourites, testosterone and other steroids, diuretics and
beta-agonists. And tests for others are in the pipeline.
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For the first time, we have one for erythropoietin (EPO), which boosts the
production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, making it especially handy for
endurance sports. And by the next Olympics, a test should be in place for the
muscle-building human growth hormone. A small number of drugs can鈥檛 yet be
tested for, such as insulin-like growth factor. Again this is no stranger to
medical research. If the medical commission of the International Olympic
Committee decides to test for this drug, it ought to be a cinch.
The same goes for competitors who attempt genetic enhancement. At some
time in the future, athletes could inject substances containing genes that
generate higher concentrations of natural hormones or steroids. It鈥檚 a scary
thought. But at least researchers will already be ahead of the
game鈥攖hey鈥檒l have read about these genes in journals or in patents.
Gene tests raise ethical questions. But these would be little different to
those that are already being discussed for DNA profiling and genetic tests for
inherited diseases.
Sports authorities are clearly serious about stamping out drugs. In the past,
they鈥檝e been a bit slow off the mark. At least now they鈥檙e getting their act
together. Where a test doesn鈥檛 exist, the knowledge needed to develop one is
available within the drugs industry. There鈥檚 no reason why the drugs testers
can鈥檛 beat the cheats.
