“The process isn’t a case of report it and stop”: Athletes’ lived experience of whistleblowing on doping in sport

Whistleblowing is effective for exposing doping in sport, garnering increased support and promotion within the global anti-doping community. However, limited attention has been afforded towards understanding the doping whistleblowing process. In response, the authors convey a sense of the whistleblowing context by using the actual words of whistleblowers to illuminate their experience. To achieve this aim, the authors have adopted a narrative approach. Three doping whistleblowers were interviewed regarding their lived experiences of whistleblowing on doping and the data has been represented in the form of one composite creative non-fiction story. The story narrates the whistleblowing experience as a process whereby individuals must (a) determine what they witnessed and experienced was doping, (b) make the decision and take action to report it, and (c) deal with the myriad of consequences and emotions. It also highlights the dilemma faced by whistleblowers who are likely equally compelled to adhere to the moral of loyalty and fairness; yet in this context they are unable to do both. Stemming from the story presented and the forms of retribution experienced, the authors offer practical suggestions for sporting organisations to address in order to empower others to whistleblow on doping in sport. Specifically, organisations should establish and implement whistleblowing policies that: (a) provide protection for whistleblowers, (b) mandate whistleblowing education, and (c) identify an independent person for individuals to seek guidance and support from before, during and following the act of whistleblowing.     

专辑前言 反兴奋剂斗争的新武器——运动员生物护照

兴奋剂是体育运动健康发展面临的主要威胁之一;反对在体育运动中使用兴奋剂是我国发展体育运动的一贯方针。在中国政府、各级体育主管部门及体育从业者的共同努力下,20多年来中国反兴奋剂工作取得了很大成绩,得到了国际体育界的高度评价。     

Doping in sport: an analysis of sanctioned UK rugby union players between 2009 and 2015

To inform anti-doping policy and practice, it is important to understand the complexities of doping. The purpose of this study was to collate and systematically examine the reasoned decisions published by UK Anti-Doping for doping sanctions in rugby union in the UK since the introduction of the 2009 World Anti-Doping Code. Case files were content analysed to extract demographic information and details relating to the anti-doping rule violation (ADRV), including individuals’ explanations for how/why the ADRV occurred. Between 2009 and 2015, 49 rugby union players and one coach from across the UK were sanctioned. Over 50% of the cases involved players under the age of 25, competing at sub-elite levels. Reasons in defence of the ADRV focused on functional use and lifestyle factors rather than performance enhancement. An a priori assessment of the “need”, “risk” and “consequence” of using a substance was not commonplace; further strengthening calls for increasing the reach of anti-doping education. The findings also deconstruct the view that “doped” athletes are the same. Consequently, deepening understanding of the social and cultural conditions that encourage doping remains a priority.     

Sport-specific and non-specific practice of strong and weak responders in junior and senior elite athletics – A matched-pairs analysis

Elite track and field athletes with greater and lesser multi-year performance improvement were compared regarding their developmental sport-specific and non-specific, organised (coach-led) and non-organised (peer-led) sporting activities. Athlete pairs were matched on gender, discipline and baseline performance in competitions (at 13/19 years). Their unequal subsequent performance development during junior (13–17 years; n = 138) and senior (19–23+ years; n = 80) age ranges defined “strong responders” and “weak responders”. Analyses revealed that junior-age strong responders accumulated more organised practice in athletics than weak responders, while the amounts of all other types of activities were indifferent. Senior-age strong responders did not accumulate a greater total sum of all kinds of sport activities or greater amounts of organised practice in athletics or non-organised involvement in athletics or other sports than weak responders. But they engaged in more organised practice and competitions in other sports over more years (9 vs. 2 years) and specialised in athletics at a later age than weak responders (16 vs. 11 years). The results were also robust among senior international medallists vs. national medallists. The findings are reflected relative to the hypotheses of “multiple sampling and functional matching”, “learning transfer as preparation for future learning” and “authenticity of variable learning experiences”.     

Doping – die Züchtung des Übermenschen

Uncovering new doping scandals does not take an end. The exclamation against this practice of the contest distortion becomes ever louder. The anti-doping wave is about to loom up itself to a tsunami. But why? And against what actually? Doping belongs to the modern occidental culture and philosophy history like space flights and the human enhancement. Doping is the expression of our nihilistic postmodernism. The deregulation and legalization of doping would thus correspond to our historical development rather than its prohibition. And a closer look at the anti-doping wave reveals it as a mere symptom of the prevailing nihilism. The question remains whether we achieve an appropriate “Verwindung” (tortion) of the nihilism rather with or without doping.     

Sport and doping: from WADA’s monopoly to collective arrangements and new model of anti-doping

Abstract

On April 1, 2018, the new standards of compliance to the code of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) came into force. The new standards impact all sports. An important amendment has been made to an article of the existing code ‘Additional Roles and Responsibility of the Parties’. Now, all international federations and the unions in agreement with WADA are obliged to reject applications for holding all sporting events from countries that do not comply with the WADA code. By then, Russian elite sport remained in isolation because the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) had no license from WADA until a compromise agreement allowed Russia back into international sports in September 2018. The probability of obtaining permanent return to international sport was extremely low. In order to obtain the license, Russian sport authorities were asked to agree with the reports of Professor McLaren and to admit the existence of doping support in the country at the state level, which seemed improbable. In Russia, although the new standards of the World Anti-Doping Agency code have not caused special concerns it directly impact Russian elite sport. Unless certain conditions were met by 2019, there was a high probability that Russia would not be able to attend large international competitions in the near future, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The situation dictates the choice of the new strategy of development for Russian sport and new model for the fight against doping, which can be not dependent on WADA. To date, there have been no real checks on WADA’s authority other than occasional decisions in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Academics who are critical of WADA’s functions often find themselves marginalized when the purported global doping “crisis” should bring “all hands on deck” to provide a humanistic and scientific approach that is best for athletes past, present and future. The functions of WADA in investigating, charging and punishing athletes do not contribute to sustainable development of sport and the sports industry around the world, and create unipolar environment of influence on sports development. Therefore, in this article, we describe some alternative forms and new order of regulation of the anti-doping relations in sport.     

The Munich Olympics 1972: Its Impact on the Relationship Between State,Sports and Anti-Doping Policy in West Germany

This article about doping and anti-doping measures and policy in West Germany in the context of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich is part of a research project about ‘Doping and Anti-Doping in West-Germany’, supported by the German Government. The intention of this paper is to describe, analyse and discuss the process of changing relationships between state (including various governing sports bodies) and sport (including the German sport associations and federations) in West Germany in the context of the Munich Olympics, and how doping and anti-doping was dealt with in national and international high-level sports. The paper is based on relevant archives and documents from governmental and sports organizations, as well as on the current German and international state-of-the-art of doping (and anti-doping) research.     

Doping control in sport: An investigation of how elite athletes perceive and trust the functioning of the doping testing system in their sport

Doping testing is a key component enforced by anti-doping authorities to detect and deter doping in sport. Policy is developed to protect athletes’ right to participate in doping-free sport; and testing is a key tool to secure this right. Accordingly, athletes’ responses to anti-doping efforts are important. This article explores how the International Standards for Testing, which face different interpretations and challenges when policy is implemented, are perceived by elite athletes. Particularly, this article aims to investigate how elite athletes perceive the functioning of the testing system (i.e., the efforts of stakeholders involved in testing) in their own sport both nationally and worldwide. Moreover, it seeks to identify whether specific factors such as previous experience of testing and perceived proximity of doping have an impact on athletes’ perceptions of the testing system. The study comprises a web-based questionnaire (N = 645; response rate 43%) and uses qualitative findings to elaborate on and explain quantitative results. Results showed that two-thirds of the athletes reported the national testing programme in their sport to be appropriate. A majority of the athletes who had an opinion on the subject regarded testing programmes in some countries as not extensive enough or believed that in certain countries doping control was downgraded to win medals. Past experience of testing seemed to have a positive influence on trust in the concrete measures; however, if athletes experienced flaws during the control procedures, this could increase distrust and cause worry. The proximity of doping in an athlete's sport influenced the athlete's perception of the testing system. Particularly, athletes who need the testing system to be effective and to function well across the world show greater distrust of or dissatisfaction with the current testing system. The athletes’ diverging views indicate that contemporary anti-doping policy is simultaneously met with support, (dis)trust and frustration. By integrating the views and experiences of Danish elite athletes, this study confirms that the current testing system is confronted with obstacles, and it contributes knowledge about some of the challenges WADA faces when policy is implemented. Implications of results and recommendations for anti-doping authorities are outlined in the paper.     

The final frontier of anti-doping: A study of athletes who have committed doping violations

Although the use of banned drugs in sport is not a new phenomenon, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of athletes who have committed anti-doping rule violations. This study qualitatively explored the experiences of 18 athletes (from the sports of bodybuilding, powerlifting, cricket, sprint kayak, rugby league, and swimming) who had committed anti-doping violations. Themes explored included motivations for initiating and maintaining doping, the psychology of doping, deterrents to doping, and views on current anti-doping policy. In most cases doping had started early in their careers. The perceived culture of the sport was considered central to the ‘normalization’ of doping, particularly in bodybuilding. When explaining their decision to dope, athletes engaged in processes or moral disengagement (including advantageous comparison, minimizing consequences and diffusion of responsibility). Ironically, moral arguments were perceived as the most effective deterrents to doping. Findings are discussed in relation to the difficulties in establishing credible deterrents and suggestions for the future development of anti-doping policy.     

Anti-doping education for coaches: Qualitative insights from national and international sporting and anti-doping organisations

Within anti-doping efforts, an emphasis has been placed on the importance of providing education programmes to key stakeholder groups, including coaches. Yet, very little is known about current coach education provision in the anti-doping domain across countries and sports. Therefore, this study aimed to: (1) establish the current status of anti-doping education for coaches; (2) gain an understanding of the system through which anti-doping education is provided to coaches; and, (3) explore the opportunities for future education provision. This was done through semi-structured interviews with thirteen individuals responsible for managing anti-doping education within national and international sporting and anti-doping organisations. Most stakeholders acknowledged the importance of providing education programmes for coaches. Some already had provision in place and others were in the process of developing programmes. However, the current focus is on sportspeople and the degree to which sporting and anti-doping organisations are able to devise, implement and evaluate anti-doping education programmes for coaches is hindered by the contextual constraints they face. These include a lack of resources and limited interagency coordination, as well as challenges to overcome negative perceptions of ‘anti-doping’ efforts. Taken together, the findings indicate that policy expectations regarding anti-doping education for coaches are not being fully operationalised, and this situation is unlikely to change without: (1) greater direction and regulation of the system through which education is provided; (2) frequent and effective communication and cooperation between Code signatories; and, (3) increased fiscal and human capital investment at every level of the sporting hierarchy. Ultimately, until anti-doping education is shown to be a key priority for decision makers within sporting organisations (i.e., chief executives and board members), it is unlikely to become a central priority for coaches.     

Evaluation of an anti-doping intervention for adolescents: Findings from a school-based study

The present study investigated the effectiveness of a school-based intervention in promoting an anti-doping culture in adolescents. Participants were 218 high school students attending Health Education programs in Greek secondary education. Students completed a questionnaire including measures of attitudes towards nutritional supplement and doping use, social norms and norm salience, and values and harms of sport. The intervention consisted of 10 teaching units focusing on the health, moral, social and psychological aspects of nutritional supplement and doping use. The results showed that intervention group participants reported significantly weaker attitudes towards doping use, and increased norm salience. Health was ranked as the most important value of sport in both intervention and control groups, and doping use was ranked as the most important threat to the integrity of sport in the intervention group. The findings are discussed with respect to policy making and the role of school-based interventions in promoting an anti-doping culture in young people.     

Analysis of doping control test results in individual and team sports from 2003 to 2015

Background:Determining the prevalence of doping in sport might be useful for anti-doping authorities to gauge the effectiveness of anti-doping policies implemented to prevent positive attitudes toward doping.Using questionnaires and personal interviews,previous investigations have found that the prevalence of doping might be different among different sports disciplines;however,there is no sport-specific information about the proportion of adverse and atypical findings(AAF) in samples used for doping control.The aim of the present investigation was to assess the differences in the frequency of adverse analytical and atypical findings among sports using the data made available by the World Anti-Doping Agency.Methods:The data included in this investigation were gathered from the Testing Figures Reports made available annually from 2003 to 2015 by the World Anti-Doping Agency.These Testing Figures Reports include information about the number of samples analyzed,the number of AAFs reported,and the most commonly found drugs in the urine and blood samples analyzed.A total of 1,347,213 samples were analyzed from the individual sports selected for this investigation,and 698,371 samples were analyzed for disciplines catalogued as team sports.Results:In individual sports,the highest proportions of AAF were 3.3%±1.0% in cycling,3.0%±0.6% in weightlifting,and 2.9%±0.6% in boxing.In team sports,the highest proportions of AAF were 2.2%±0.5% in ice hockey,2.0%±0.5% in rugby,and 2.0%±0.5% in basketball.Gymnastics and skating had the lowest proportions at(≤1.0%) for individual sports,and field hockey,volleyball and football had the lowest proportions for team sports(≤1.4%).Conclusion:As suggested by the analysis,the incidence of AAF was not uniform across all sports disciplines,with the different proportions pointing to an uneven use of banned substances depending on the sport.This information might be useful for increasing the strength and efficacy of anti-doping policies in those sports with the highest prevalence in the use of banned substances.     

The IOC and the doping issue—An institutional discursive approach to organizational identity construction

To show why the 1998 doping scandals led to the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency, this paper investigates how the IOC has created its organizational identity once confronted with the emergence of doping in sport. The paper endorses a new institutional understanding of organizations, which is combined with a critical discourse analytical framework. Through a systematic reading of the Olympic Review between 1960 and 2003 four main anti-doping discourses are outlined: health scientific, ethical, legal and educational discourses construct the meaning-providing horizon of IOC anti-doping commitment. The 1988 Ben Johnson doping incident is crucial for the understanding of the organizational changes occurring 10 years later. Immediately following the Seoul Olympic Games the IOC applies a warfare genre, which frames anti-doping as a declaration of war and constructs a narrative of the IOC as leading a successful battle against doping. The 1998 doping scandals reveal the opposite. Subsequently, WADA can be labelled IOC's institutionalization failure.     

Die 1960er Jahre als Formationsphase von modernem Doping und Anti-Doping

Many contemporary forms of doping and anti-doping developed in the 1960s regarding substances, social perception, doping and anti-doping strategies and actors. The first significant steps towards regulation were made during this period. Anti-doping in West Germany was based on the principle of partnership between sport and state. However, it was not a specifically German solution but in line with the common anti-doping strategies of most other European countries. At the same time limits and obstacles of anti-doping became apparent.     

The doping self-reporting game: The paradox of a ‘false-telling’ mechanism and its potential research and policy implications

Establishing a requirement for, justifying public spending on, and evaluating the effectiveness of anti-doping policies all accentuate the need for reliable estimates of doping prevalence in sport. To date, despite considerable effort and much empirical research, this critical information is still not available. Methodological concerns that make doping epidemiology research difficult have been noted, and to some degree addressed in relation to under-reporting bias. In this paper, we use a simple game model to outline a potential responding behaviour among self-reporting athletes on the use of doping that could potentially invalidate any prevalence estimation arising from self-reports. We show a paradoxical situation in which a potential strategic behaviour inevitably leads to a game where the ‘lying’ is a dominant strategy for both doping users and non-users. A slightly more advanced look at the situation might possibly alter this seemingly absurd conclusion, however not in a direction offering any easy solutions for empirical doping research. Although we acknowledge that the proportions of respondents engaging in false telling are likely to vary across samples and differ between doping users and clean athletes, our simple model effectively draws attention to a neglected side of evasive responding in surveys. The response bias that potentially could lead to under- and over-reporting should be considered when self-reported prevalence rates are used to inform anti-doping prevention and intervention policies. Survey methodologies that are able to account for potential distortions would make a considerable contribution to doping research.     

我国体育兴奋剂监管的博弈分析

体育兴奋剂是服药者和管理机构之间的一个博弈，服药的程度和监管力度互为反应函数，相互制约。通过博弈论的基本理论．构建了运动员和体育管理机构的混合战略博弈模型，计算出管理机构进行检查的最优战略选择和服药者服用兴奋剂的最优战略选择。并根据分析结果，提出了加大对不服药优秀运动员的奖励、加大对兴奋剂的处罚力度和降低反兴奋剂的检测成本等对策。     

Doping as addiction: disorder and moral responsibility

D’Angelo and Tamburrini invited readers to consider doping in sport as a health issue and dopers as potential addicts who need therapy rather than offenders who need punishing. The issue of addiction in sport is important and very much under researched. In this essay I explore the extent to which addiction can be justifiably used as an excuse for offending behaviour. The favoured argument is that addicts experience a craving or compulsion to use over which they have no control. I argue that there is insufficient evidence that addicts experience such compulsion. Although it seems science is unravelling some of the mysteries of addiction, it has not provided sufficient evidence that addictive consumption amounts to compulsive use. Nevertheless, it is clear that addicts do have difficulty with controlling their use and such difficulties ought to be considered in any judgements about moral responsibility. This does not mean that rules or laws including anti-doping legislation should be altered because not all those who fall foul are addicted. Moreover, accepting responsibility and punishment for the consequences of their actions (including anti-doping rules) is an important part of therapy for addicts.     

Universalism and the spirit of sport: evidence from Greece and Australia

Despite the World Anti-Doping Code’s 11-value Spirit of Sport statement being declared the universal ethical basis for global sporting practice, there is no empirical evidence whether the Spirit statement is the universal ethical basis for sport. Best-worst scaling surveys were completed by five independent (two Greek and three Australian) to determine whether there is cultural variation in which values were considered important or unimportant to sport. The results indicate Greeks and Australians mostly agree about what is unimportant to sport, but vary in terms of what is considered important. The variation indicates that the ethical justification for anti-doping may be less than universal. Moreover, the findings point to the need for more research into the Spirit statement as the proscribed universal ethical basis for a global practice, including philosophical and ethical inquiry, and how people understand both the individual values and the Spirit statement as a whole.     

体育法治全球化的典型例证与法理分析

以体育法治全球化何以可能着手,对反兴奋剂法治的全球化和国际体育仲裁实践两个体育法治全球化的典型例证进行考察,并针对两者进行法理分析。研究认为世界反兴奋剂法治和国际体育仲裁实践直接推动了体育法治全球化的发展;体育法治全球化将催生全球体育法治体系,这一体系已经演变成一种新的全球法律治理模式,并将为其它领域的国际法律和司法制度发展提供重要的范例。     

Sport activities differentiating match-play improvement in elite youth footballers – a 2-year longitudinal study

This study examined contributions of different types of sport activities to the development of elite youth soccer performance. Match-play performance of 44 German male players was assessed by expert coaches twice, 24 months apart (age 11.1–13.1 years), based on videotaped 5v5 matches. Player pairs were matched by identical age and initial performance at t₁. Each player was assigned to a group of either “Strong” or “Weak Responders” based on a higher or lower subsequent performance improvement at t₂ within each pair (mean Δperformance 29% vs. 7%). A questionnaire recorded current and earlier amounts of organised practice/training and non-organised sporting play, in soccer and other sports, respectively. Group comparison revealed that “Strong Responders” accumulated more non-organised soccer play and organised practice/training in other sports, but not more organised soccer practice/training. Subsequent multivariate analyses (multiple linear regression analyses (MLR)) highlighted that higher resultant match-play performance at t₂ was accounted for R²_adj = 0.65 by performance at t₁, together with more non-organised soccer play and organised engagement in other sports, respectively, and greater current, but less earlier volume of organised soccer. The findings suggest that variable early sporting experience facilitates subsequent soccer performance development in German elite youth footballers.