NO-ONE likes a poor loser. It's unsportsmanlike, undignified and childish. But even worse is discovering that your admiration of a victorious athlete was misguided because they cheated.
There is little less unpalatable in the sporting world than an athlete who has used drugs to enhance their performance and the repercussions go far beyond the distaste aimed at the those that do. It can rob others of their chance of true glory, it di
sappoints the fans and it tarnishes the credibility of the competition. This is why there have been growing efforts in recent years to do more to catch drug cheats and to ensure those caught are named and shamed.
The consequences can be serious. Earlier this year, US sprinter Marion Jones was stripped of her five Olympic medals and jailed for six months after lying to police about her use of steroids. While the use of anabolic steroids by UK sprinting champion Dwaine Chambers saw him handed a maximum two-year ban from athletics, imposed in 2004.
But while some sportsmen intentionally take substances to enhance their performance, others have been hauled across the coals because of ignorance.
Just this week, Scotland rugby forward Scott MacLeod had his knuckles rapped after innocently taking the banned substance Terbutaline in his asthma medication without informing the SRU. He was lucky but the repercussions for Scots skier Alain Baxter were far more serious – he was stripped of his Olympic bronze medal for failing a drugs test after he used a nasal inhaler which contained a banned substance.
There is a clear difference between those who secretly use drugs to enhance performance and those who inadvertently take a banned substance – but the rules make them no less responsible.
Joe Marshall, an education and information officer with the anti-doping organisation UK Sport, says athletes should be in no doubt where they stand.
The rules set down by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) hold the athlete entirely responsible if they are found with a banned substance in their system. These rules are widely publicised.
"There's a strict personal liability which means they always need to be aware of whatever they take and be responsible for it," explains Joe. "The rules set down by Wada mean athletes are fully responsible for what goes into their system, regardless of whether they are taking medicines or supplements or committing more serious doping offences."
With the Drug Information Database available for anyone to search the status of a medication, there is little excuse for claiming ignorance even though banned substances can be found in over-the-counter medicines such as flu remedies.
And everyone involved in sport should be on their guard because there is more chance than ever they will be caught.
"We are now moving towards intelligence-based testing procedures," explains Joe. " We used to do a lot of our testing at competition but, what we found was, if someone was to dope in sport, they were more likely to be doing it out of competition. Now we target our tests to the periods where we think they are more likely to be doping."
In the year ending March 2007, in excess of 7200 drugs tests were carried out across more than 50 sports by inspectors in the UK, with just over half conducted with no advance notice and outside competition.
It is to be welcomed that the level of adverse findings in the UK remains relatively low – at around 1.3 per cent, against a worldwide average of 1.9 per cent – but it remains disappointing for everyone involved when a sportsman or woman is found to have performance enhancing drugs in their system.
Those involved in policing sport also have to keep an ear to the ground about the new substances being developed.
The scandal surrounding the banned drug THD is just one example of how clever modern science can be and for some time this steroid was undetectable by normal dope tests.
"I would say the policies and tests will never be entirely watertight," says Dr Tony Turner, a lecturer of physiology at Edinburgh University. "And while Wada is doing everything to keep up, most anti-doping experts are fighting a battle against a situation where a huge amount of money is being invested in sports."
Dr Turner adds that some sports coaches, keen for success, will urge players to try dietary supplements to aid training. And although these supplements are widely available, the industry is "notoriously poorly regulated".
Taking a supplement is risky as research reported by UK Sport found that many contained banned anabolic steroids not listed on the label.
Whether a banned substance is taken inadvertently or intentionally, the effect is the same in that the morale of those involved in the sport suffers and the public lose confidence. And at a time when we are looking forward to the Olympics in Beijing and Scotland playing host to the Commonwealth Games, there has never been a more pertinent time for our athletes to train hard so we can celebrate their success knowing that their medals are the reward of drug-free competition on a level playing field.
