Prescribed drugs at the Olympic Games: permitted use and misuse (doping) by athletes / Ken Fitch. - Clinical Medicine 2012, Vol 12, No 3: 257–260 (Olympic special)
Athletes have always sought to outperform their competitors and regrettably some have resorted to misuse of drugs or doping to achieve this. Stimulants were taken by the first Olympic athletes to be disqualified in 1972. Although undetectable until 1975, from the 1950's androgenic anabolic steroids were administered for increased strength and power followed in the 1990's by erythropoietin for enhanced endurance. Both are highly effective doping agents. As analytical science validated improved techniques to identify these drugs, Olympic athletes, including many medalists were caught and disqualified. When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prohibited beta blockers (beneficial in shooting), diuretics (assist weight classified athletes) and glucocorticosteroids, some athletes with genuine medical conditions were denied legitimate medical therapy. To overcome this, in 1992 the IOC introduced a system known now as Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). This paper discusses Olympic athletes who have been known to dope at past Games and some medical indications and pitfalls in the TUE process.
Drugs have long been, and will continue to be, a focus of attention at elite sporting competitions, including the Olympic Games. Unfortunately and too often, misuse of prohibited performance enhancing drugs tends to overshadow the outstanding sporting achievements of clean athletes. Elite athletes, similar to their non- or less athletic counterparts, do experience medical conditions that necessitate treatment with drugs that are prohibited in sport. Fortunately, a tightly regulated process does enable both the therapeutic needs of most of these athletes to be met and for them to participate at the highest levels of sport.
