Athletes hard-pressed to hide drug usage<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"He tested negative for drugs but was three-
\nmonths pregnant\" is an old joke of dope testers. But it still
\nmade Dangsina Moeloek, the first Indonesian woman specializing in
\ndope testing, laugh when she told it to The Jakarta Post
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
Years ago it was quite easy for athletes to fool dope testers.
\nThat joke, for instance, originated from an incident in which a
\nmale athlete, in an attempt to fool testers, handed in a sample
\nof his girlfriend's urine instead of his own. Female athletes
\nalso smuggled in condoms filled with clean urine to cheat
\ntesters.<\/p>\n
The most gruesome report came from Soviet gymnast Olga
\nKovalenko who won an Olympic gold medal in Mexico in 1968.<\/p>\n
Now 45 years old, Kovalenko broke down during a German
\ntelevision interview last year and revealed how she was pressured
\ninto becoming pregnant and then having an abortion.<\/p>\n
The body of a pregnant woman produces chorionic gonadotrophin
\nwhich stimulates the production of male hormones and therefore
\ncan make the woman stronger.<\/p>\n
\"I was told that if I refused I would not have been sent to
\nthe Games,\" said Kovalenko.<\/p>\n
Capitalizing on a body's mechanism by forcing hormonal changes
\nsuch as in the Kovalenko case is very difficult, if not
\nimpossible, to detect. The same holds true when one increases the
\noxygen supply in one's blood by undergoing a transfusion of one's
\nown blood or a donor's blood. Having more oxygen in the blood
\nenhances aerobics.<\/p>\n
When the doping does not follow the body's natural system,
\ndetection is easier,\" Dangsina said.<\/p>\n
The dope testing equipment of the Beijing drug control
\nlaboratory, Gas Chromatography\/Mass Spectrometry, detects drugs
\nsubstances down to the level of ions. So, even if substances have
\nbeen well diluted or masked, they are still traceable, the sports
\nmedical doctor said.<\/p>\n
Doping control was initiated at the 1968 Olympic Games and
\ninvolved testing largely for central nervous system stimulants
\nand narcotics.<\/p>\n
Seven years later, in 1972, the Munich Olympic Games was the
\nfirst to undertake full-scale testing (more than 2,000 tests)
\nresulting in seven athletes, including four medalists, being
\nbanned.<\/p>\n
Anabolic steroids, of which stanozolol is a derivative, cost
\nCanadian sprinter Ben Johnson his 100-meter Seoul Olympic gold
\nmedal. The drug was added to the list of banned substances in
\n1976.<\/p>\n
In 1983, caffeine and testosterone were also added to the
\nlist.<\/p>\n
Since testosterone is normally produced by the body, it would
\nbe presumed that an athlete had taken the hormone for doping
\npurposes if the amount of testosterone compared to the amount of
\nepitestorone in his urine exceeded the normal ratio of six to
\none.<\/p>\n
The same also applies to caffeine. An athlete who drinks
\ncoffee every day will not be accused of doping if the amount of
\ncaffeine in the urine is no more than 12 mg per liter, which is
\nequal to drinking eight American-sized cups of coffee within one
\nday.<\/p>\n
\"But we must also check how the athlete's kidneys function. An
\nathlete may be accused of doping while his teammate isn't, even
\nthough they drink the same excessive amount of coffee because
\ntheir kidney secretionary systems differ considerably,\" she
\nadded.<\/p>\n
How long performance-enhancing substances linger in an
\nathlete's body depends on the type of substances and the doses
\ngiven. Hence, athletes and their coaches may try to measure the
\ntime a certain drug takes to completely disappear from an
\nathlete's urine against a given competition schedule. If
\nsuccessful, the doping effect works as expected while the
\nathlete's urine test remains negative.<\/p>\n
\"But human bodies are not machines,\" Dangsina said. \"However
\naccurate the measurements may be, lapses can happen. As in the
\nBen Johnson case, for instance. Many believe that doping is
\ncommon even among world-class athletes and that Johnson was
\ncaught perhaps due to such a miscalculation,\" she added.<\/p>\n
Placebo<\/p>\n
Performance-enhancing drugs do not really enhance performance,
\nDangsina said.<\/p>\n
Beta-blockers, for instance, are used by sharpshooters to slow
\ntheir heart rate. As a result, the interval between pulses is
\nprolonged. \"They shoot within the stretched interval because that
\nis the calmest moment. If they hit a bull's-eye, it's not because
\ntheir shooting techniques are enhanced by the drugs, but because
\nthe drugs make them more relaxed.\"<\/p>\n
The same is true for anabolic steroids. Hario Tilarso, the
\ncountry's other expert in doping control, said that steroids are
\nof no use to an athlete who takes them but does not train.<\/p>\n
Steroids build muscle. And muscle power (strength) is enhanced
\nby training.<\/p>\n
\"There is no proof that drugs really enhance performance,\"
\nDangsina said. Hario added that the effect of drugs can be said
\nto be the same as that of placebos. \"Experts are still in
\nconflict as to whether drugs really enhance performance,\" said
\nHario.<\/p>\n
Up to now, there is no proof that drugs enhance performance,
\nbut athletes are strictly prohibited from taking them because
\nthey are harmful and can lead to death.<\/p>\n
Welterweight Billy Bello died in 1963 from a heroine overdose
\nand so did Dick Howard, who finished third in the men's 400m
\nhurdles at the 1960 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
Hence, athletes should think ten thousand times before opting
\nfor doping. As the Bible so aptly puts it, \"for what profiteth a
\nman, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul?\"
\n(arf)<\/p>",
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