Performance enhancing

[devilsadvocate]

Can any of the many knowledgeable members of this forum please define what is meant by the term "performance enhanceing drugs" as i personaly have problems with a player being injured then given a pain killing injection and sent back out onto the field of play?.

[kornboy130]

Thats fine, Performance enhancing drugs are drugs that have an unprecedented anabolic effect on muscle growth usually through elevated hormone levels.

[bluntiger]

Thats fine, Performance enhancing drugs are drugs that have an unprecedented anabolic effect on muscle growth usually through elevated hormone levels.

With the obvious effect that increased muscle growth produces increased strength and/or speed hence enhancing a players performance.

[kingol22]

basically steroids

[G.K]

Not just steriods I'm afraid but also includes stimulants, sedatives, diuretics and some of the more serious painkillers such as morphine. The list of those substances that are prohibited can be found at:

http://www.wada-ama.org

[CJ]

a lot of ordianry people take performance enhancing drugs as defined by WADA. you get pseudo-ephedrine in most cough and cold medication.

and some drugs could be performance enhancing for one sport but exactly the opposite for others e.g. beta blockers would be useful for shooting or archery but harm performance of sprinters and other 'explosive' events.

but sportspeople who are subject to the WADA testing all know they have to stay off any drugs which are on the banned list and that includes masking agents.

[mike]

One or two players I know could definately benefit from something like this .

[captain_insaino]

It's why Scott Macloed (Scotland second row) got in a lot of trouble for using his inhaler without telling the drugs people about it.

[mol2]

Inhalers are a tricky one - some are adrenaline derivatives & can make the heart race although probably not that performance enhancing.

A lot of it stems back to one called clembutarol which was never used as an asthma treatment in the UK but in high doses had an anabolic effect. It was amazing how many of the East German sprinters had asthma. It's on the banned list but has led to a number of the medications for asthma needing to be declared.

Some drugs are probhibited in all circumstances, some are allowed only if declared & for defined conditions.

[known as eric at work]

Psuedo-ephradines, have caught a lot of people out over the years.
More recently, the Sheff. UTD keeper, Paddy Kelley who has had a 9 month ban for taking a cough remedy, and a few years back, there was a Scots man (whos name I can't remember) who won a Silver in the Olympic downhill ski event, but had it stripped because of a cough remedy given to him by the team Doctor.
The levels within the body from these doses are not enough to actually improve performance in normal circumstances, but because there is a trace found within the samples, all sanctions become severe. I usually feel quite sorry for anyone caught up in these cases, as it not for gain really as they are often taken when not doing their sport and feeling rough. When questioned they are very open and honest about the substances taken (Benelyn more often than not, but not in the quantaties required to make an impact on the sports field) bought over a counter, not from someone in a dark alley, and psuedo-ephradines cannot mask other substances that could be performance enhancing.
Not condoning taking drugs, but sometimes, grey areas are found without any mitigating circumstance taken into account.
Inhalers are strange, my youngest brother was a county standard schoolboy sprinter, and had an "Intal spinhaler", whos active ingredients were acceptable for football and rugby, but not for track and field. Stopped taking his inhaler (changed under medical advice) and started to wheeze like a good'un within a fortnight. Didn't take long to pack in sprinting and go back onto the original inhaler. That's a not nice really, don't take and you can compete, but not breath. Take it, and have a normal life. Some choices there.

[Rizzo]

I think Jasper Carrott used to do a routine about cannabis being a "performance enhancing drug"..

[ads]

and a few years back, there was a Scots man (whos name I can't remember) who won a Silver in the Olympic downhill ski event, but had it stripped because of a cough remedy given to him by the team Doctor.

Al Baxter.

[Tigerbeat]

I thought that Al Baxter just bought a Vicks inhaler in the US. The contents were different to what the UK Vicks inhaler contained.

It gave him a positive drugs test.

"Baxter and the BOA argued the positive test was an innocent mistake resulting from the use of Vicks Inhaler to clear up a head cold.
The product sold in the United States contains levamfetamine, a mild form of methamphetamine, while the British version does not. Methamphetamine, also known as speed, is a powerful nervous-system stimulant. "


http://2002.ksl.com/news-6894i.php?p=1

[Tiger_in_Birmingham]

I thought that Al Baxter just bought a Vicks inhaler in the US. The contents were different to what the UK Vicks inhaler contained.

It gave him a positive drugs test.

"Baxter and the BOA argued the positive test was an innocent mistake resulting from the use of Vicks Inhaler to clear up a head cold.
The product sold in the United States contains levamfetamine, a mild form of methamphetamine, while the British version does not. Methamphetamine, also known as speed, is a powerful nervous-system stimulant. "


http://2002.ksl.com/news-6894i.php?p=1

I remembered it as Canadian not from the USA.

I thought that the outcome was a sensible stance, remove the medal as he did have an illegal reading, but no ban/suspension as it was a geniune mistake based upon assumptions of the drugs being the same

[known as eric at work]

That is quite harsh though, for what was an ignorant (ignorant in the nicest term you can have) mistake.
You've lost your medal, but we haven't banned you.