Doping and Cycling: Myth or Reality?

"Twenty-plus-year career, 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of the

competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case." This was a comment made by a famous

cyclist Lance Armstrong back in 2004 when he was caught up in the doping scandal where he

was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. After years of denying the use of blood

doping and suing everyone who spoke or stood against him, Armstrong was finally exposed

last year, and he isn’t the only one. Cycling, which was one of the most prestigious and

popular sports in entire Europe, has now been consumed and plagued by performance-

enhancing drugs and doping scandals.

Doping in professional cycling is not very new. The sport has been facing this

problem for over a decade, notably longer than any other organized sport. The history of

when it all began is an important factor to be considered to answers our question regarding

the widespread use of drugs in cycling. Doping practices began in the 19th century when it

was a common practice for cyclists to mix sugar cubes in nitro-glycerine or cocaine. This

paved way for the use of amphetamines in the 20th century, by which doping was an

ingrained part of the cycling culture. According to a report published by Teddy Cutler, a

renowned sports journalist, from 1998 to 2013, 12 Tour France races were won by cyclists

who were confirmed dopers. In addition to that number, around 65% of the top ten riders of

Tour de France during those 16 years were suspected using drugs or had a strong linkage to

doping. This shows how prevalent doping was through the history of cycling.

Inefficient drug-testing is another factor that is believed to have contributed to the

rising presence of drug use in cycling. In most cases, the users are usually a step ahead in the

drug testing arms race. The testing methods have indeed become better over the past years.

Machines and equipment are more sensitive and can trace a lot more drugs than before.
However, this was to be true and is the new testing methods were more efficient, it is fair is

to assume that the number of athletes caught should also increase. But according to a paper

published in Sports Medicine, this number has remained quite static around two percent of all

athletes tested. This number is significantly lower when compared to the estimate of 14-39%

players who are suspected of using drugs, based on questionnaires and some lab testing. In

addition to this, even though labs start to develop tests before the drug is released and in the

hands of the player, it a huge amount of investment in terms of resources and time to develop,

several years in some cases. This eventually leads to a cat and mouse game between the

testers and dopers. Hence cyclists and other athletes are always one step ahead of the testers.

There is a high chance for this to continue as long as players have incentives to win.

One of the major impacts of using drugs is the effect it can have on the cyclist’s

health. Even though in most cases, doping is done under medical supervision, there is

growing uncertainty and concern regarding the long-term consequences of potential side

effects it can have. There have been a lot of arguments against this saying that players can

make their own decisions and have the free will to use drugs and they are doing understating

the potential risks involved. But it is very important to note that high-performance sports like

cycling already put athletes at the high risk of structural changes to the heart and cause

medical conditions like athlete’s heart. Taking drugs in addition to this already posing risk

can be of great danger to the player. According to Professor Georg Predel, from the Sport

University at Cologn, this can a possible reason why several fit and perfectly healthy cyclists

die of a heart attack at a very young age. Hence the health aspects of doping is a serious

subject that deserves closer attention.

In addition to this, doping can also create unfair competition amongst the players and

is also against to the spirit of the sport. Using performance-enhancing drugs while competing

can be viewed as highly unethical as the doped player can have an upper hand by enhancing
his stamina using the drug. This can be quite unfair to the clean athlete. There are a lot of

liberal scientists suggesting the removal of the ban on doping all together as a potential

solution. However, this wouldn’t be very effective as different factors like the uneven

distribution of drugs, economic inequality of the players and the serious side effects have to

be considered. One the other hand, using drugs while performing is also quiet opposite to the

sports spirit. It is a basic requirement in all sports for the players to adhere to the same set of

standardized. Fairness in any kind of game requires the result of the competition to be settled

on only the athlete’s ability and talent. Hence competition between a non-doper and a doper

is as unfair and cannot be viewed as a true sporting competition. Rather than being a

competition between two individuals based on their abilities and talent, a cycling contest

between doped players is likely to be viewed as a struggle between the best medically

administered body.

Now the final question is to think about is if the fans or the audience care about

doping. According to a survey conducted amongst 925 Norwegian sports consumers, which

looked into the attitude of people towards doping, the majority of the people who participated

had very tough responses towards sports athletes using drugs while participating in

competitions. Other than the general audience and fans, TV broadcasters and sponsors also

had a negative reaction to doping. In cycling, for instance, many sponsors and TV

broadcasters had withdrawn their support in organizing recent competitions due to the doping

allegation. In 2008, two German TV broadcasters, ARD and ZDF, had decided to not telecast

the Tour de France due to the same. This shows the negative implication doping can have in

sports.

After careful analysis, the fact that cycling and many other sports, in general, have

become far cleaner than how it was before is true. Drug testing and facilities have also greatly

improved than before. But that said, I don’t believe that cycling is altogether clean. Cycling’s
dirty history with doping will take a lot more time to be completely eradicated. But we are

certainly leaps away from how it was a decade ago.

References:

Janas, M. (2019). Doping Still Part of Pro Cycling’s Culture. The Sports Magazine. Retrieved
from: http://thesportdigest.com/2019/07/doping-still-part-of-pro-cyclings-culture/

McMillan, S. (2013). Lance Armstrong's doping denials – in quotes. The Guardian. Retrieved
from: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/jan/18/lance-armstrong-doping-denials-
quotes

Powell, M. (2019). Doping Cloud Still Looms Over a Thrilling Tour de France. The New
York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/sports/cycling/doping-
tour-de-france.html

Thoring, H. (2010). Doping in elite sport - do the fans care? Public opinion on the
consequences of doping scandals. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship,
Vol. 11 Iss 3 pp. 2 – 16

USA Today (2008). Doping turmoil cancels 2009 tour of Germany. Retrieved from:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/2008-10-16-germanycanceled_N.htm