History of Drugs in the Olympics
Drug use in sports has been suspected to have existed since the Roman times in which Gladiators would be given stimulants to stop fatigue and even their horses would be given hydromel, a substance which would enable them to run faster (Ramlan Abdul Aziz,2006). However the first documented case of drugs and stimulants being used in sports wasn’t until 1904 when marathon runner, Thomas Hicks, was injected twice with a substance called Strychnine, which is more commonly used today for rat poison, whilst running the race (Andy Bull, 2008). The effects of this drug were said to be similar to caffeine. At this time, there was no rules on banned substances and so this was a legal manoeuvre carried out by his trainers …show more content…
A US team physician noted the success rates of the weightlifting team and so he became to experiment with the drug on the US weightlifting Team (Peter M.Miller et al, 2013 ). Methandienone has the benefits of giving the user a quick increase in lean muscle mass, strength and a an increase in protein synthesis with less negative effects than that of pervious steroids (Dbol Muscle Secret, 2016) . Drug usage was still occurring throughout a lot of sporting competitions and even with the call of a drug ban back in 1928 throughout sporting competitions, steroids and other drugs were still being used regularly throughout competition. There was no tests conducted on athletes either, making it easy to get away with using then enhancements. However in 1968, Danish cyclist Knud Jenson, took part in a team time trial during the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy and with 20km to go, collapsed and fell of his bike and fractured his head. He later died that day in hospital. Even though his death was caused by the fall and the fracture of his head, the toxicology report found amphetamines in his system, it was these drugs that caused him to lose consciousness and fall from the bike. This was the first ever recorded death during the Olympic Games due to drugs. (Sports Reference LLC,2012). Due to the nature of his death, there was a lot of negativity towards …show more content…
It can detect a range of substances such as opioids, steroids, alcohol, amphetamines and other illicit drugs. Once an athlete has been requested to produce a sample, they must do so. To ensure complete security of the sample and that there has been absolutely no tampering, the athlete provides the sample under supervision of a WADA agent of the same gender and the sample is then immediately secured. The urine sample is then taken to a secure lab where up to 6000 other samples will be analysed during an Olympic games. The samples are then analysed using gas chromatography/ mass spectroscopy or by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A mass spectrometer produces ions from the sample being analysed. Next, the ions are separated in accordance to their mass, it uses electronic and magnetic fields to measure the weight of these ions, and then a detector will produce a signal of each of these ions and produce a peak on a graph. From this, it can be worked out if there are any drugs or banned substances in the urine (JEOL USA inc, 2006). The HPLC method is able to separate compounds that have been dissolved in the urine sample and it does so based on the compounds interactions with the mobile phase (a liquid or gas) and stationary phases (a solid or a liquid supported in a solid). This causes different flow rates and so this also leads to different separation peaks produced as they pass
Drug use in sports has been suspected to have existed since the Roman times in which Gladiators would be given stimulants to stop fatigue and even their horses would be given hydromel, a substance which would enable them to run faster (Ramlan Abdul Aziz,2006). However the first documented case of drugs and stimulants being used in sports wasn’t until 1904 when marathon runner, Thomas Hicks, was injected twice with a substance called Strychnine, which is more commonly used today for rat poison, whilst running the race (Andy Bull, 2008). The effects of this drug were said to be similar to caffeine. At this time, there was no rules on banned substances and so this was a legal manoeuvre carried out by his trainers …show more content…
A US team physician noted the success rates of the weightlifting team and so he became to experiment with the drug on the US weightlifting Team (Peter M.Miller et al, 2013 ). Methandienone has the benefits of giving the user a quick increase in lean muscle mass, strength and a an increase in protein synthesis with less negative effects than that of pervious steroids (Dbol Muscle Secret, 2016) . Drug usage was still occurring throughout a lot of sporting competitions and even with the call of a drug ban back in 1928 throughout sporting competitions, steroids and other drugs were still being used regularly throughout competition. There was no tests conducted on athletes either, making it easy to get away with using then enhancements. However in 1968, Danish cyclist Knud Jenson, took part in a team time trial during the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy and with 20km to go, collapsed and fell of his bike and fractured his head. He later died that day in hospital. Even though his death was caused by the fall and the fracture of his head, the toxicology report found amphetamines in his system, it was these drugs that caused him to lose consciousness and fall from the bike. This was the first ever recorded death during the Olympic Games due to drugs. (Sports Reference LLC,2012). Due to the nature of his death, there was a lot of negativity towards …show more content…
It can detect a range of substances such as opioids, steroids, alcohol, amphetamines and other illicit drugs. Once an athlete has been requested to produce a sample, they must do so. To ensure complete security of the sample and that there has been absolutely no tampering, the athlete provides the sample under supervision of a WADA agent of the same gender and the sample is then immediately secured. The urine sample is then taken to a secure lab where up to 6000 other samples will be analysed during an Olympic games. The samples are then analysed using gas chromatography/ mass spectroscopy or by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A mass spectrometer produces ions from the sample being analysed. Next, the ions are separated in accordance to their mass, it uses electronic and magnetic fields to measure the weight of these ions, and then a detector will produce a signal of each of these ions and produce a peak on a graph. From this, it can be worked out if there are any drugs or banned substances in the urine (JEOL USA inc, 2006). The HPLC method is able to separate compounds that have been dissolved in the urine sample and it does so based on the compounds interactions with the mobile phase (a liquid or gas) and stationary phases (a solid or a liquid supported in a solid). This causes different flow rates and so this also leads to different separation peaks produced as they pass