Spotting the Cheaters

[摘要] Once again, this year's summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro bring athletic performance into the spotlight. Sport has been described as “the organized playing of competitive games according to rules” (1), but unfortunately, there are many examples illustrating how a focus on success in competition can ruin the aspect of “playing according to rules.” Consequently, top performing elite athletes today are not only admired, but also are under suspicion of committing fraud. The feeling of success and the considerable economic advantages associated with winning seem to be tempting enough for some to accept using illicit measures to achieve an unfair advantage. And not only do athletes take the bait, but professional doping today usually involves help from members of the entourage, doctors, and sometimes even national authorities.In an attempt to combat doping in sports, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)2 was established in 1999 by representatives of the Olympic movement and public authorities. WADA has developed rules for conducting doping tests in and out of competition, and publishes a list of prohibited substances that is updated yearly. The number of samples tested for suspected doping has steadily increased and reached a new record of 283304 by WADA-accredited antidoping laboratories in 2014 (2). Nevertheless, such measures for doping control have always been criticized as being inefficacious. The numbers of what laymen call “positive tests,” and officials refer to as “adverse analytical findings,” remain constantly low at about 1%–2% of all samples analyzed; however, there are indications of a significantly higher prevalence of doping (3). Questions have been raised on whether antidoping tests are worth the costs, and some even have suggested stopping antidoping testing (4). Although catching every cheater certainly is not the sole purpose of an antidoping program (5), it obviously remains an ongoing challenge to optimize use …

[学科分类] 过敏症与临床免疫学