Doping cases

[Rosa Maria]

The most recent case of doping in sport is Marion Jones, an northamerican athlete who won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Last year, she admitted to having take steroids before the Olympics. The consequences have been a two-year suspension. Also, she has lost her medals and, finally, she has announced her retirement.

Another relevant case is one of the East Germany athletes and sportsmen and sportswomen. By the time of Cold War, they were forced to take banned substances to enhance their performing and, this way, show the superiority of comunism. Politics also influence sport and its bad practise. Nowadays this ex-athletes -victims, in fact- have taken their case to the court, agains a great German pharmacy company.

[Marisa]

Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells (RBCs) in the circulation in order to enhance athletic performance. Because they carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, more RBCs in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity. There are many negative effects to blood doping. The simple act of increasing the number of RBCs in the blood stream makes blood thicker. This also can make it clot more readily. This has shown an increase in the chances of heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism. This has been seen in cases where there is too much blood reintroduced into the blood stream. Another problem that has been seen is if the blood in not properly stored and prepared. If they are prepared improperly the blood may become contaminated. This was seen in 1 in every 500,000 transfusions of RBC in 2002 This contamination can lead to sepsis or an infection that affects the whole body. This may seem like a small number but as blood doping becomes more popular among athletes, infections due to the procedure may increase. Also certain medications used to increased RBCs can reduce liver function, pituitary and increase cholesterol levels.