Minimum ban for doping increased to 4 years

Up to now, the minimum ban for doping in athletics has been 2 years. What it has meant that anyone taking banned substances could still train away and be back in time for major championships. It was in effect too lenient and not enough of a deterrent.

As of the 1st of January 2015, the minimum ban has now been increased to 4 years. This means that anyone caught doping will not be able to participate in competitions for at least four years which means that they would miss major events like the Olympics, the World Championships and so on.

The punishment for missing three tests within a 12-month period has been increased from 18 months to two years. Athletes guilty of "inadvertent doping" will receive a two-year ban - although they can get a reduction if they have "substantial proof that they were not at fault or intending to cheat".

The effects of doping may last up to 10 years

Back in August, the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) announced that from 2015, athletes found guilty of using banned substances will be given a four year ban instead of the current two.

A recent study in Norway with mice suggests that taking certain steroids can have a lasting effect on the subjects for a very long time after the doping session. It was found that if the mice had a brief exposure to testosterone then they  found that three months after the drug was withdrawn, their muscles grew by 30% after six days of exercise. A control group of mice saw growth of just 6% in the same time period. It was found that the brief exposure to the drug boosted the number of cell nuclei which help to build muscle. This new research is a follow on from a previous study which suggested that if people exercised when they were young then their muscles grew more easily when they were adults.

Prof Gundersen, the scientist behind the study published in the journal of Physiology says that if a similar effect can be shown in humans, it should lead to a lifetime ban for dopers. He is quoted as saying..."If it is sufficient to build muscle mass, I think it would be sufficient to give you this long term effect. I think it could last 10 years but I don't have the data to back that up. It would be my speculation yes. In science if you cheat, you are out for life, and my personal view is that it should be similar for athletes. It is a harsh treatment but if you really are cheating, I think that's reasonable."

The Norwegian research team now believes that their research calls into question the current proposal from the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) to raise the penalty for dopers from two years to four.

Masters athletes in the USA get caught for doping

You would think that cheating and doping in sports would be confined to young athletes but it doesn't seem so. In 2011, the US Anti-Doping agency have caught 11 masters athletes...one in his 50's and three in their 60's. While some can be explained away by people taking certain medications because of their age, there are others who are doping to enhance their athletic performance in competitions.

At that age, you'd have to wonder what's the point? It's not like there is some huge amount of money at stake?........or is it a case of old habits die hard???

There is an article about it on the Associated Press website

The Confessions of Eddy Hellebuyck...The dark side of distance running

I came across an article some time ago on the Runners World website called 'The Confessions of Eddy Hellebuyck'.

Who is he?

Eddy Hellebuyck was born in Belgium and was one of the main Marathon runners from that country in the 1980's and 90's. Aged just 23, he ran a 2:13 Marathon in 1984. In the late 80's and early 90's, he ran Marathons all over the world, running most of them under 2:30 (PR 2:11:50) and collected a lot of prize money as a result.  In 1996, he represented Belgium in the Marathon at the Atlanta Olympic Games. By the year 2000 and aged 39, his times were beginning to drop and his racing career was going into a decline.

By the late 90's, the illegal performance enhancing drug EPO was making it's presence felt in the running world. 'EPO....A hormone produced by the kidneys that stimulates the production of oxygen-bearing red blood cells, EPO appears naturally in the body. The pharmaceutical version was developed in the late '80s to boost the red-blood-cell counts of patients suffering from anemia associated with kidney disease. An increased level of EPO in the body can enhance the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood and, hence, a runner's endurance.'

While operating a training camp for runners in the USA, Hellebuyck claims he was introduced to the drugs then. By 2001, he had started to take EPO and his times and career got a new lease of life. Running now as a veteran athlete, he could earn serious prize money again. In 2002, he ran a 2:19 Marathon before going on to run 2:12:47 in 2003 at 42 years of age. In that year, he earned $55,300 on the race circuit.

In January 2004, all of that came to an abrupt halt. In his own words............"Then one morning, all of a sudden, just before breakfast, the guy from USADA was knocking on the door. He said he had missed me when he came by the week before. I had been away from the center working out at Balboa Park, and he wanted to test me now. He had his credentials and everything. He was from the UCLA lab, I think. He took my urine sample. I think I had put down a unit of EPO two days before. I was probably just inside the 48 hours. I didn't really think about it. Probably since 2001 when I started EPO, I must have passed 10 or more tests. I wasn't too worried. I was just focused on my workout that day."

Except he didn't pass. Hellebuyck received notice of his positive drug test in late March of 2004 and was banned from competiting. With his career and reputation in ruins, he initially denied everything and appealed the decision but to no avail. Eventually in 2010, he confessed and told his story to the Runners World magazine.

The full 9 page story can be seen HERE.

It gives an insight into the world of those cheating in the sport and the cat and mouse game they play with the authorities as they try to evade detection. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, one in ten elite athletes are now using drugs to cheat.

In response to this problem, there will be a record number of tests at the next Olympics coming up in London in 2012. Whether this weeds out the cheats in the sport remains to be seen.