Blood doping is a technique that allows someone to increase the mass of their red blood cells. This allows the body to be able to transport more oxygen to the muscles. The end result is that the person who is blood doping can increase their performance and their stamina. There are 3 common methods of blood doping: through transfusions, through EPO [erythropoietin], and with synthetic oxygen carriers.
Statistics on Blood Doping
1. Estimates of the prevalence of blood doping range from 1% to 48% depending on the sport that is being analyzed.
2. When all samples from all athletes in all sports are analyzed, the prevalence of blood doping is estimated to be at 14%.
3. Adverse or atypical analytical results occur in 1% to 2% of the tests performed in WADA-accredited laboratories.
4. Three weeks after a final EPO injection, only 2 out of 48 urine samples showed up as positive in lab tests.
5. The performance effects of blood doping can stay in the body for up to 90 days.
6. Recent studies in which EPO was applied to test subjects in lower dosages showed that O2 max is increased by 6%-12% when the hematocrit is increased to approximately 0.50.
7. Of the 26 sports included in the 2012 Games, the worst offender in terms of the rate of findings per sample is cycling at 3.71%.
8. Boxers have the second highest rate of doping at 3.05%.
9. 0.87%. That’s the percentage of doping that was found in international badminton players.
10. Football/futbol/soccer players are tested most frequently for blood doping, followed by long distance athletics. Cycling is tested the third most often.
11. Extreme cases of secondary polycythemia highlight the health risks associated with blood manipulations.
12. A study out of Zurich shows that part of what EPO may do is boost the brain’s motivation to get physical in the first place.
13. 27 Chinese women have flunked drug tests since 1990, more than the total from all other nations.
14. A study from the 1980s, before synthetic EPO, showed that bike racers’ blood averaged a cellular content of 43%, so the UCI decreed that anybody with a level above 50% would be disqualified for taking EPO.
15. The Summer Olympics (0.49%) have nearly double the percentage of reported doping cases as the Winter Olympics (0.28%).
16. Athens 2004 was the most doped Olympics with 26 reported violations of anti-doping rules. Some of the violations did not involve positive tests in Athens, but were instead procedural violations during the collection of specimens.
17. Austria has the most doping violations in the Olympics with 10.
18. In 2012, 107 athletes tested positive for doping before the Olympics in London, which eliminated them from being able to compete.
19. The only Olympics since 1968 that did not have any positive doping tests were the boycotted Olympics of 1980.
20. The average turnaround time for a test: 24 hours.
Understanding Blood Doping
Why is the introduction of EPO, a natural hormone the body produces anyway, considered to be blood doping? After all, it’s released by the kidneys and works with a person’s bone marrow to produce red blood cells, right? The problem is that high levels of EPO will actually thicken the blood. It can increase the risks of stroke, heart disease, or an embolism. Continually high levels of EPO may even result in cancer formation.
Blood transfusions are dangerous in their own right. Although many athletes will use their own blood, if that blood has not been stored properly, then there are higher risks of strokes, heart attacks, and embolism as well. If another person’s blood is used, then a virus can be transmitted through the process. Transfusions are becoming one of the most common forms of blood doping because only HBT versions can be detected through testing.
As the statistics will show, the prevalence of blood doping in sports can be remarkably high. There are not any published estimates of overall doping in sports, so direct comparisons to other forms of performance enhancements are not available. It may be a way to gain a competitive edge, but it comes with a high price.
Athletes and Blood Doping
Athletes are always looking for a competitive edge. Some might even say that if you’re not cheating as an athlete, then you’re not really trying. The reality of blood doping is that it can sometimes be difficult to detect, but it can also have serious consequences to those who are trying to gain an edge in this way.
Interestingly enough, blood doping came about because ways to improve the sport of cycling were being studied. The idea of transfusions, real EPO, and then eventually synthetic EPO were initially seen as a way to make the sport more competitive. Today these efforts are seen as a method of performance enhancement that is equal to steroids with the negative stigmas that are associated to it. Just look at the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his vacated Tour de France titles as evidence of this.
The one problem we have with blood doping is that the entire process is viewed in a way that is a bit hypocritical. We wouldn’t condemn an athlete from using caffeine before a game. We see athletes consuming energy drinks regularly enough. This enhances their performance as well because it gives them an internal energy boost from the stimulant nature of the drug. How is this any different from the stimulation that comes from blood doping?
We want our sporting events to be truly competitive and honest. For true honesty, we must eliminate doping in all of its forms because people will always react differently to the process of the doping. It’s comparable to how some people feel sleepy instead of more awake when they have a cup of coffee. With a level playing field, we feel like equality is achieved and the sporting event becomes more entertaining. Blood doping eliminates that feeling.