What is doping in sports: roughly the complex

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Doping scandals occur regularly. It seems that Russia suffers more often than others. Take, for example, the recent scandal with Kamila Valieva. Many people still have questions: what is doping and what drugs can ruin an athlete not only a test, but also a career?

In professional sports, various drugs and medical manipulations are called doping, which can push the limits of the body’s capabilities and, therefore, affect the outcome of certain competitions. For example, some drugs increase muscle mass, others add endurance, and others supply oxygen to the body, which also has a positive effect on the physical abilities of the athlete.

Drugs and methods considered doping are placed on WADA’s shutdown list. These are steroids, hormones, gene doping, drugs that improve anabolism, inert gases, meldonium … They also indicate drugs and methods that, for example, help to hide traces of doping. In short, the list is very long. The drugs on this list are divided into two large categories: they are completely prohibited, the others – only for the duration of the competition.

If a drug is not on WADA’s Prohibited List, does that mean the athlete can take it? In any case! The list of banned drugs suggests that the ban also applies to analogues and drugs that are in clinical trials. In addition, a professional athlete can take any medication only with the permission of a sports doctor or pharmacologist.

This is why it sometimes happens that an athlete, having trusted professionals, unknowingly takes a drug containing substances from the WADA stop list, which automatically excludes him from competition.

See also: Our rhythm! Big doping scandals of Russian Olympic athletes