Olympic Sports Doping News by The Doping Journal Editor

Doping by the pool invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic Swimming Gold by Phelps, others

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:31:00 +0200

Citation: Is Michael Phelps A Sonic Doper? Listening to an iPod Is Like Taking Drugs. Bioethics: Science Progress by AmericanProgress.org (22 August 2008) Abstract: Imagine you have qualified for the Olympics and are walking down a Beijing street the day before your event, when a vendor gives you a covert signal to come closer. You approach warily as he opens a flap of his trench coat, revealing something half tucked into an inside pocket. “Pssst,” he says. “You want to win gold? Guaranteed to help. And perfectly legal.” “What is it?” you ask, as he shows you a mysterious device, smaller than a credit card and with wires dangling from it. “Intracranial transducers,’” he says in practiced English, pointing to the ends of the wires. “Stick them in your ears and they focus the brain, increase blood oxygen, prepare muscles for action. Made here in China.” “So it’s a doping device!” you say with disgust. “No, no,” the man exclaims in a hoarse whisper, looking around to make sure no one else has heard your incriminating comment. “Like I said, totally legal.” “So what is it called?” you ask. He looks askance again, then leans over and whispers in your ear: “‘iPod,’” he says. “We call it ‘iPod.’ It worked for Phelps. It can work for you.” Click on the title for the article full text. Rick Weiss, presently a Senior Fellow, the Center for American Progress www.americanprogress.com, is one of the finest US national science writers, who worked for Washington Post for more then 10 years. His excellent responsible science writing featured science sections of a number of national newspapers, such as San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Washington Post and others.

Doping by the pool invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic Swimming Gold by Phelps, others

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:31:00 +0200

Citation: Alexei R. Koudinov Scientific evidence invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic swimming medals. Doping Journal Vol. 5, 2 (13 August 2008) Abstract: Did you notice that some swimmers wear earphones and are listening to music just before their every Olympic start, at Beijing's Summer Olympiad 2008 Water Cube pool deck, be it finals or semifinals? I first noticed that before Michael Phelps first gold swim on August 10: he removed earphones 2 minutes before the start, and he was the only swimmer who worn earphones at the pool deck. During other finals several other swimmers worn headphones. Intriguing scientific evidence testifies: Listening to music is a performance enhancement and a prohibited by The World Antidoping Code 2008 method of the enhancement of oxygen transfer. Therefore, Beijing 2008 swimming Olympic medals by the pool deck music listeners are faked and should go to others who battle for it fairly. Click on the title for the article full text. Doping Journal is an independent free online publication on every aspect of doping science and antidoping policies. The journal serves an unbiased research and development of the science on doping, fair and science based transparent anti-doping laws, transparency of policies and the translation of the research into routine lab practice. Special objective is to protect athletes from the misconduct by WADA, IOC, CAS and Sports Federations. The journal aims to become a leader and worldwide forum on doping science and practices by all interested parties, scientists, medical professionals, athletes and lawyers. Alexei Koudinov and The Doping Journal have no competing financial interests. For more information please visit www.dopingjournal.org , email postmaster@dopingjournal.org , call +972 547 968607 or skype akoudinov

Problems at World Anti-Doping Agency will 'drive Innocent athletes out of sport'

Sun, 14 Aug 2008 13:31:00 +0200

The current approach of the international agency responsible for fighting the use of drugs in sport will drive innocent athletes out of the Olympic Games, according to an article in the new International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching edited by Dr Simon Jenkins from the University of Bath. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was set up in 1999 by the International Olympic Committee and publishes the list of banned substances and monitors drug use in sport through random tests. In a review of some of the practices and procedures used by WADA, a leading sports scientist from the USA and a top marathon coach from the UK have identified major problems that they believe will lead to innocent athletes paying the price for a flawed anti-doping system. Key to their finding was a lack of scientific evidence and protocol at the heart of WADA’s operations. “Drug testing and classification should be a scientific affair, unfortunately WADA appears to have little to no understanding of the criteria for science,” said Dr Brent Rushall from San Diego State University, a four-time Olympic Team psychologist for Canada, who co-wrote the article with Max Jones, a multiple age-group world-record holding runner who has studied the drugs in sport movement. - ScienceDaily Click on the title for the article full text

Major scientific journal says that the processes used to charge athletes with cheating are based on alchemy, not science

Sun, 8 Aug 2008 13:31:00 +0200

Citation: Donald A. Berry The science of doping. Nature Vol. 454, pp. 692-693 (7 August 2008). Leading text: Recently, the international Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld doping charges against cyclist Floyd Landis, stripping him of his title as winner of the 2006 Tour de France and suspending him from competition for two years. The court agreed with the majority opinion of a divided three-member American Arbitration Association (AAA) panel and essentially placed a stamp of approval on a laboratory test indicating that Landis had taken synthetic testosterone. Although Landis asserts his innocence, his options for recourse have all but dried up. Already, in the run-up to this year's Olympic Games, vast amounts of time, money and media coverage have been spent on sports doping. Several doping experts have contended that tests aren't sensitive enough and let dozens of cheaters slip through the cracks. And some athletes are facing sanctions. Upon testing positive for clenbuterol, US swimmer Jessica Hardy was held back from the Olympic team and faces a two-year ban from the sport. She is attesting her innocence. China has already banned several athletes, some of them for life, on doping charges. Indeed, many world-class athletes will find their life's accomplishments and ambitions, their integrity and their reputations hinging on urine or blood tests. But when an athlete tests positive, is he or she guilty of doping? Because of what I believe to be inherent flaws in the testing practices of doping laboratories, the answer, quite possibly, is no. Click on the title for the article full text. Donald A. Berry is head of the Division of Quantitative Sciences, chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Frank T. McGraw Memorial Chair of Cancer Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, 1400 Pressler Street, Houston, Texas 77030-1402, USA and is a member of the Doping Journal Editorial Board, Email: dberry@mdanderson.org

Nature magazine believes that accepting 'legal limits' of specific metabolites in a corrupted WADA/IOC way goes against the foundational standards of modern science and society

Sun, 7 Aug 2008 23:31:00 +0200

Citation: Editorial: A level playing field? Nature Vol. 454, p. 667 (7 August 2008) Abstract: Drug testing in sport aims to promote fair play, but the science behind the tests needs to be more open... Nature believes that accepting 'legal limits' of specific metabolites without... rigorous verification goes against the foundational standards of modern science, and results in an arbitrary test for which the rate of false positives and false negatives can never be known. By leaving these rates unknown, and by not publishing and opening to broader scientific scrutiny the methods by which testing labs engage in study, it is Nature's view that the anti-doping authorities have fostered a sporting culture of suspicion, secrecy and fear... Detecting cheats is meant to promote fairness, but drug testing should not be exempt from the scientific principles and standards that apply to other biomedical sciences, such as disease diagnostics. The alternative could see the innocent being punished while the guilty escape on the grounds of reasonable doubt. Click on the title for the article full text.

Anti-doping tests did not pass statistical muster: scientist

Sun, 6 Aug 2008 22:21:00 +0200

PARIS (AFP) — Anti-doping tests used at the Olympics and other major sporting events are too often based on faulty science and statistical methods that can yield erroneous results, a researcher charged Wednesday in a leading scientific journal. Donald Berry, an expert in biostatistics at the University of Texas, used the case of American cyclist Floyd Landis to point up flaws in anti-doping procedures, but cautioned that the problems he uncovered apply across the board to lab tests designed to ferret out athletes who cheat by using performance enhancing substances. Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France cycling race victory after a drug test showed he had taken synthetic testosterone to boost his endurance. The cyclist has maintained his innocence, but an arbitration court in June dismissed his last-chance appeal to overturn the test results. Writing in the British science journal Nature, Berry argues that the tests performed by the French national anti-doping laboratory (LNDD) that condemned Landis to ignominy and barred him from competition for two years were "non-informative" and potentially subject to error. While Berry does not have an opinion as to the cyclist's guilt or innocence, he is highly critical of what he called the "inherent flaws" in current testing practices. "The situation in drug-testing labs worldwide must be remedied," he said. "Cheaters evade detection, innocents are falsely accused and sport is ultimately suffering." The same type of tests that ruin careers would be rejected by regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration as scientifically unsound for diagnostic tests to detect disease, he told AFP in an interview. International Olympic Committee (IOC) medical director Patrick Schamasch, contacted ahead the commentary's publication, would not comment directly on the study but said: "What we are doing in the area of doping is the most advanced in terms of certitude." (It does not sound to be true, however, especially, beacuse former WADA head was well known for his irresponsible and non professional statements... Click on the title for the article full text)