Track and Field - Doping

Doping

Track and field athletes are banned from ingesting or using certain substances by governing bodies for the sport, from the national to the global level. The IAAF's constitution incorporates the World Anti-Doping Code among other anti-doping measures. Practices such as blood doping and the use of anabolic steroids, peptide hormones, stimulants, or diuretics can give athletes a physical competitive advantage in track and field. The use of such substances in track and field is opposed on both ethical and medical grounds. Given that the sport functions by measuring and comparing athletes' performances, performance-enhancing substances create an uneven playing field — athletes who do not use doping substances have a disadvantage over rivals who do. Medically, the use of banned substances may have an adverse effect upon athletes' health. However, some exemptions are made for athletes who take banned substances for therapeutic use, and athletes are not sanctioned for usage in these cases, such as Kim Collins' failed drug test due to asthma medication.

To prevent use of performance-enhancing substances, athletes must submit to drug tests that are conducted both in and out of competition by anti-doping officials or accredited medical staff. Athletes found to have taken substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list receive sanctions and may be banned from competition for a period of time, reflecting the seriousness of the infraction. However, the use of substances not on the prohibited list may also result in sanctions if the substance is deemed similar to a banned substance in either composition or effect. Athletes may also be sanctioned for missing tests, seeking to avoid testing or tampering with results, refusing to submit to testing, through circumstantial evidence, or confession of use.

Doping has played a significant part in the modern history of track and field. State-sponsored doping in East Germany with hormones and anabolic steroids marked the rise of women from the German Democratic Republic in track and field from the late 1960s to the 1980s. A number of these women, such as Marita Koch, broke world records and were highly successful at international competitions. Some athletes, who were following a doping plan from their teenage years, suffered significant health problems as a result of the regime. Ben Johnson ran a new world record in the 100 m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics but was later banned for using anabolic steroids. In the mid-first decade of the 21st century, the BALCO Scandal eventually resulted in the downfall of prominent sprinters such as Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, among others, through their usage of banned substances.