With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games well under way, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) aims to ensure that athletes are “clean” – meaning free of all performance-enhancing drugs.
and policies across all sports and countries. For equestrian disciplines, WADA collaborates with the governing body for such sports, the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). But how are these agencies ensuring clean competition at this year’s games? Here’s what you need to know:
What doping agents are authorities looking for?
Every year, WADA and the FEI publish updated lists of prohibited substances for and athletes. The most common are anabolic steroids, such as trenbolone and oxymetholone, both of which increase muscle mass and strength. These made up 42 per cent of positive results from competitive sporting events in 2022, .
Advertisement
Diuretics made up 16 per cent of samples that failed doping tests. These increase urine output, leading to a lighter body weight, and can also be used to hasten the elimination of other doping agents.
Stimulants accounted for 15 per cent of positive results, followed by hormone and metabolic modulators (11 per cent), cannabinoids (5 per cent) and peptide hormones (4 per cent). Other substances included glucocorticoids, beta-2 antagonists, narcotics and beta blockers.
Overall, fewer than 1 per cent of samples are positive, reports WADA.
Isn’t there a lag between the development of new drugs and the means to test for them?
As doping agents are constantly evolving, so is the art of detection, says a WADA spokesperson. “WADA’s science and medicine department is tasked with staying at the forefront of new substances and methods,” it says. The agency collaborates with the pharmaceutical industry “to stay on top of the latest trends”.
“Science is key to driving advances in anti-doping,” says the spokesperson. Its scientific research programme for use in Olympic Games and other international sporting events. “Innovative research leads to the identification of new doping trends, new substances, new doping methods and new detection approaches,” says the spokesperson.
Furthermore, specialised facilities store all samples for 10 years, opening the possibility for subsequent analyses when technology has advanced. Positive results found at these later dates will have the same legal consequences as those found in 2024, says the spokesperson.
, an ongoing electronic record for each competitor, can also flag doping indirectly, by picking up changes in samples over time. This contains biological markers for each athlete throughout their sporting career. Regular blood and urine tests provide measures of naturally occurring steroids, growth hormones, haemoglobin and red blood cells, for example.
Software analyses of each new sample determine if such measures fall out of the athlete’s normal range. If they do, scientific experts investigate to distinguish between potential illness, doping or an inconsequential fluke.
The passport has been particularly useful in detecting “blood doping”, in which athletes inject themselves with additional red blood cells or drugs to enhance red blood cells to carry more oxygen to the muscles.
What about gene doping?
CRISPR-edited genes are already being tried as a medical therapy for conditions such as cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer’s disease. However, edited genes could also be injected into humans and horses to modify gene expression in a performance-enhancing way.
To combat this, WADA has created the that is working with researchers to develop detection methods for gene manipulation, it says.
The FEI, meanwhile, is planning to fully revamp its Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations this year, says at the federation.
It intends to introduce a provision for gene testing on 1 January 2025. “The FEI collaborates with other horse sport jurisdictions to ensure that the optimal procedures and analytical techniques will be in place,” says Termine.
Is there a concern that Olympic cyclists might resort to carbon monoxide inhalation, as seen in the Tour de France?
Recent research suggests that regularly inhaling low doses of carbon monoxide, which isn’t banned in sport, can increase the amount of oxygen an athlete’s body can absorb and use during exercise, known as the VOâ‚‚ max. żěè¶ĚĘÓƵs carrying out such studies inhaling this toxic gas.
WADA’s Prohibited List Expert Advisory Group has discussed this issue, but hasn’t reached a consensus about whether the gas actually has a performance enhancing effect, says the agency’s spokesperson.
“No sufficiently robust data currently supports that proposition. It is, however, generally acknowledged that it can be dangerous to use, so it would not be recommended.”
What samples are used in testing?
During the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the International Testing Agency is managing the collection and testing of samples.
WADA and the FEI mainly require urine samples, although blood samples can be provided in certain cases, such as when urine output is insufficient. The WADA-accredited in Orsay in outer Paris will analyse all the human samples, while the FEI will send those from equines to the in the suburb of Verrières-le-Buisson.
Other biological samples, such as hair and nails, aren’t part of the official anti-doping programmes. at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Strasbourg, France, thinks they should be, as they can provide a longer history of substance use, as opposed to the point-in-time detection offered by blood and urine.
Not all molecules enter hair and nails, and the threshold for a positive result is slightly higher. Even so, detectable substances can be found through laboratory analysis as long as the hair or nail is available, says Kintz.
Hair, for example, grows at a rate of approximately 1 centimetre per month. żěè¶ĚĘÓƵs can therefore detect substances within each centimetre of a strand to determine approximately when, and how often, a doping agent was consumed.
For example, eating beef contaminated with growth hormones can sometimes trigger a positive urine test, says Kintz, but a . Hair samples can also distinguish between doping and accidental with partners who use such substances.
At this time, WADA hasn’t included hair or nail analyses in its policy and won’t accept them to overturn a positive urine or blood result found during the games, says the agency’s spokesperson.
Even so, athletes can use hair analyses to fight a positive doping test through the courts, says Kintz.
In contrast, the FEI carries out hair samples of horses in specific cases involving a positive test result in urine or blood, says Termine.
