Sports Medicine and Fitness

Track 16: Doping Studies

The term “doping” refers to the use of prohibited medications, drugs, or treatments by athletes with the intention of improving athletic performance. The practice of doping by athletes dates back centuries. However it has recently received increased attention due to a wide variety of potential performance enhancing drugs that are now available, and also due to prominent cases of doping by elite athletes that have been reported in the media.The idea of performance enhancement through drug therapies and diet can be traced back centuries to the time of the invention of sports. Individuals chosen to be athletes were fed specific diets and certain herbs and plants thought to improve physical power and performance. In 1904, doping was first noted at the Olympic Games in a runner who was injected with strychnine to assist with speed, and purportedly giving him the strength to finish the race.