The Boosts in Performance Tempting Athletes to Dope

By Arielle Ray and Daniela Hernandez

The Olympics brings athletes together from all over the world in the spirit of fair sportsmanship. But at times in the past, pure athleticism hasn’t always been on display. The battle over doping recently came to a head in Rio, with gold medalist Lilly King saying her competitor, Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, and fellow Olympian American sprinter Justin Gatlin, should have been banned from the Games because of their previous doping-related suspensions. 

In July 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency published its data on the drugs athletes take to give them an edge.

The report summarizes the outcomes of the roughly 283,000 tests WADA-accredited laboratories relayed back to WADA for doping screening across sports in 2014. Roughly 1% of these blood and urine tests detected signs of a banned substance.

The testing figures provide a look into the performance enhancers for which athletes test positive most often, in different categories.

Here, we take a look at five such classes and break down the science of how these drugs can help athletes crush the competition—and the risks that come with the boost in performance. 

ANABOLIC STEROIDS

For decades, elite athletes from Olympic track stars to Major League Baseball players have taken stanozolol, a synthetic steroid, to boost their performance. Some have been stripped of medals or banned from competition. Still, some take it. Why do athletes continue to risk being labeled cheats?

PEPTIDES

Erythropoietin was part of Lance Armstrong's doping regimen, which led to one of the most dramatic falls from grace in sporting history. The drug is part of a practice called blood doping. How does it give athletes a competitive edge?

DIURETICS

At the Rio Olympics, Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi reportedly tested positive for a diuretic, and has petitioned for a hearing, China's state media reports. Diuretics are masking agents that are meant to hide the presence of other banned substances. Here’s how furosemide, the diuretic that shows up most often in tests, works.

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ENLARGE

PHOTO: ARIELLE RAY/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

ENLARGE

PHOTO: ARIELLE RAY/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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The Science of Doping | The Boosts in Performance Tempting Athletes to Dope