WAn adulterant is a substance found within other substances such as food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fuel or other chemicals that compromises the safety or effectiveness of said substance.
WAnabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), are steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone as well as synthetic androgens that are structurally related and have similar effects to testosterone. They increase protein within cells, especially in skeletal muscles, and also have varying degrees of virilizing effects, including induction of the development and maintenance of masculine secondary sexual characteristics such as the growth of facial and body hair. The word anabolic, referring to anabolism, comes from the Greek ἀναβολή anabole, "that which is thrown up, mound". Androgens or AAS are one of three types of sex hormone agonists, the others being estrogens like estradiol and progestogens like progesterone.
WAsterix at the Olympic Games is the 12th comic book album in the Asterix series. Serialized in Pilote issues 434–455 in 1968, it was translated into English in 1972. The story satirizes performance-enhancing drug usage in sports.
WBlood-spinning is a medical procedure used to shorten the healing time of an injury. Small samples of the patient's blood are taken and spun in a centrifuge, allowing platelets and blood plasma to be isolated from other blood components. The platelets and plasma are then combined forming platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which has high concentrations of natural growth factors. The PRP sample can then be injected into the patient's injury, which may help reduce pain and improve recovery speeds.
WBoosting is a method of inducing autonomic dysreflexia with the intention of enhancing performance in sport. It can be used by an athlete with a spinal cord injury to increase their blood pressure and is performed by causing a painful stimulus in the lower part of the body. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) banned the practice in 1994, but many competitors with spinal injuries are still thought to be using it as a performance enhancer.
WCaffeine use for athletes is a worldwide known and tested idea. Many athletes use caffeine as a legal performance enhancer, as the benefits it provides, both physically and cognitively outweigh the disadvantages. The benefits caffeine provides influences the performance of both endurance athletes and anaerobic athletes. Caffeine has been proven to be effective in enhancing performance. Below is more detail on who benefits more, trained athletes in comparison to untrained, males in comparison to females and aerobic vs anaerobic athletes.
WThere have been allegations of doping in the Tour de France since the race began in 1903. Early Tour riders consumed alcohol and used ether, among other substances, as a means of dulling the pain of competing in endurance cycling. Riders began using substances as a means of increasing performance rather than dulling the senses, and organizing bodies such as the Tour and the International Cycling Union (UCI), as well as government bodies, enacted policies to combat the practice.
WGreg LeMond competed at a time when performance enhancing drugs were just beginning to impact his sport. Rumors of improprieties existed, including USA Cycling's blood doping at the 1984 LA Olympics and Francesco Moser's same measures prior to his 1984 assault on the hour record, but legalities were not sharply demarcated and the practice was not spoken of in the open. Considered one of the most talented cyclists of his generation, from his earliest days of professional cycling LeMond was strongly against taking performance enhancing drugs, largely on the basis of the health risks such practices posed. His career lacks the suspicious results that have tarnished his successors. His willingness to speak out against doping and those prominent individuals involved inadvertently linked him with the sport’s doping scandal controversies. In his opposition to fraud, corruption and what he saw as complicity on the part of cycling officials, LeMond became a lightning rod with the sports most prominent personalities.
WThe International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport is a rights-based document which was adopted by member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on 18 November 2015 during the 38th session of the UNESCO General Conference. This document is the legitimate successor of the International Charter of Physical Education and Sport, originally adopted in 1978, during the 20th General Conference of UNESCO.
WThe International Testing Agency, often referred to by the acronym ITA, is an independent organisation constituted as a non-profit foundation which implements anti-doping programs for international sports federations, major event organizers or any other anti-doping organisation requiring support. The organisation was created in 2018 under the supervision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to promote independence, expertise and transparency in the global fight against doping. Its headquarters are located in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland.
WL.A. Confidentiel: Les secrets de Lance Armstrong is a book by sports journalist Pierre Ballester and The Sunday Times sports correspondent David Walsh. The book contains circumstantial evidence of cyclist Lance Armstrong having used performance-enhancing drugs. The book has only been published in French.
WMeldonium is a limited-market pharmaceutical, developed in 1970 by Ivars Kalviņš at the USSR Latvia Institute of Organic Synthesis, and now manufactured by the Latvian pharmaceutical company Grindeks and several generic manufacturers. It is primarily distributed in Eastern European countries as an anti-ischemia medication.
WMetandienone, also known as methandienone or methandrostenolone and sold under the brand name Dianabol (D-Bol) among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is still quite often used because of its affordability and effectiveness for bulking cycles. It is also used non-medically for physique- and performance-enhancing purposes. It is often taken by mouth.
WMethyltestosterone, sold under the brand names Android, Metandren, and Testred among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is used in the treatment of low testosterone levels in men, delayed puberty in boys, at low doses as a component of menopausal hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, osteoporosis, and low sexual desire in women, and to treat breast cancer in women. It is taken by mouth or held in the cheek or under the tongue.
WHajo Seppelt is a German journalist and author.