Olympic lab to dope test 6,000 athletes at London 2012

[0llusion]

http://www.metro.co.uk/olympics/905232-olympic-lab-to-dope-test-6-000-athletes-at-london-2012

In a bid to ensure London 2012 is not tainted by drug scandals that have blighted previous Games, more than 6,000 samples will have been taken by the end of the Paralympics.
Every competitor who steps on the medal-winners’ podium will be tested.
More than 1,000 people will staff the anti-doping laboratory, which opens today, with 400 samples tested for more than 240 banned substances every day.
The lab, run by GlaxoSmithKline, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and King’s College London, will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the Games – from July 27 to September 9.
Team GB athletes Phillips Idowu, Beth Tweddle, David Weir, Graham Edmunds and Marlon Devonish are fronting a TV and billboard campaign to highlight the importance of the anti-doping tests at the Games.
Sprinter Devonish, 36, who won Olympic gold in the 4x100m relay at the 2004 Athens Games, said: ‘Winning an Olympic medal is the best feeling in the world. As an athlete it’s important to know that anyone who stands on the podium has got there through hard work and dedication, not by doping.’
Double gold medal-winning Paralympic swimmer Mr Edmunds, 37, who was part of the winning 4x100m freestyle relay teams in Athens and Beijing, added: ‘I’m confident that everything possible is being done to catch drug cheats at London 2012 and that makes these Games really special.’
Drugs have been in the spotlight after sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar had their British Olympic Association lifetime bans for drug taking overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Both will compete at the London Games, which start next week.
The dope testing will take place at a lab in Harlow, Essex.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/olympics/905...t-6-000-athletes-at-london-2012#ixzz20lheanZn

 

[slimvictor]

That is a lot of piss and blood.

1a) Do you think that athletes should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs?
1b) Isn't that what people really want to see?
1c) Does it matter if the drugs are likely to shorten their lifespans or cause physical or mental damage?

 

[panic_the_digital]

a. yes
b. yes
c. that is up to the athlete. I read internal polling of Olympic athletes, and most would take a drug that would kill them if it guaranteed a gold medal.

 

[0llusion]

That is a lot of piss and blood.

1a) Do you think that athletes should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs?
1b) Isn't that what people really want to see?
1c) Does it matter if the drugs are likely to shorten their lifespans or cause physical or mental damage?

1a) It's been said quite a lot, but having a separate olympics/event/whatever they want to call it set up for people who want to do this would be quite a spectacle and not step on the toes of the 'fair competition' crowd.

It would not be fair to allow performance enhancing drugs in the current situation (the banned ones anyway, if we are to believe they are as performance enhancing as they are made out), because it would create a situation where people that didn't want to take something harmful would have to if they ever wanted to compete.

1b)FUCKYEAH I'd watch that!

1c)It's your body, you get one! If you want to break it then that's up to you.

that is up to the athlete. I read internal polling of Olympic athletes, and most would take a drug that would kill them if it guaranteed a gold medal.

here we go:

a poll of 198 aspiring Olympic athletes revealed that over 98% said that they would take illegal performance-enhancing drugs if it would guarantee victories and if they would not be caught. Perhaps even more alarming was that over half would choose to take the drugs if it guaranteed victories for 5 years, even if it eventually resulted in death (Bamberger & Yaeger, 1997)

Bamberger, M., & Yaeger D. (1997, April 14th) Over the edge. Sports Illustrated, 86, 60-64.

There's an article in New Scientist called the underhand ape about how practically everyone will cheat given the opportunity if their are no consequences that ties into this quite nicely^^

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228372.200-the-underhand-ape-why-corruption-is-normal.html

 

[plexx92]

a) Yes
b) As long as they don't know that drugs are involved.
c) To some degree. What sort of damage will be caused over what timeline.

 

[slimvictor]

Thank you for your answers so far.
I agree that it would be interesting to watch, but should be kept separate from the non-enhanced crowd.

Plexx92, what do you mean by your answer for (b)?
People wouldn't want to watch if they knew drugs they were biased against were involved?

 

[maxalfie]

Which nation will win Gold for having the most athletes caught out in doping tests?
Place your bets now folks.

 

[THC2LSD]

I kind of torn about this. Individuals who want to take them, let them. Not sure about sports. The problem is that it might create an arms race where everyone tries to take the best shit even if it has adverse health consequences. And I think it's unfair for athletes to take it now because others can't do the same. I know that it still takes skill to be good and many who do would still be good, but often a split second could be the difference between being a nobody and being rich and famous.

At the same time I think that saying they're doing it for their health is being disingenuous. Look at how many athletes have health problems. Shit even in basketball, soccer, or baseball, which aren't primarily contact sports but can sometimes get rough. Let alone boxing, MMA, American football, or even fake shit like pro-wrestling. They're usually burned out by their thirties anyway.

Also it wouldn't surprise me if many still take drugs anyway, particularly if it's not currently tested for or they think they could get away with it. Some of those supplements many take are suspicious, even many that are allowed border on performance-enhancers. It's millions of dollars at stake, if I could get a million dollars just by doing even shit like DNP or cheque drops and I thought that I'd likely survive I guarantee you almost everyone would.

What I think should be done is they should be allowed but regulated. They should be tested for safety, used under the supervision of a medical professional and used in a safer manner if they chose to use them

Life enhancer are the way of the future, be they recreational, nootorpic, performance-enhancing, for looks, or to improve already healthy people's lives. One end of the spectrum is multivitamins, the opposite is cocaine. It should just be accepted but controlled.

 

[0llusion]

Which nation will win Gold for having the most athletes caught out in doping tests?
Place your bets now folks.

There's a story a friend (who as far as I know hasn't lied to me on purpose in the 5 years I've known him) was telling me about that I'll try and find in a little bit:

Something to do with illegal steroids in animal feed abroad. There was an international under 16's football contest and practically every single one of them from every country save the vegetarians and one team who had been disqualified for this before tested positive for steds meaning there were only 2 teams left to play in the end. The answer was the pigfeed that ultimately ended up in their dinners contained a lifetime supply of steroids that had been fed to the animals to bulk them up etc..

Until I find a link on this though take it with a pinch of salt it could be exaggerated!

IIRC the country of the contest was Mexico

EDIT: YES! Here it is, not exactly the story I was told, but still roughly the same:

An astonishing 109 positive tests were recorded for the banned drug out of 208 urine samples taken during the tournament, according to a revelation by FIFA.
.
.
.
The statistics are so extraordinary that both FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) have confirmed they will not be prosecuting any cases, blaming the failed tests on contaminated meat.

Mexican authorities admit the country has a major problem with farmers feeding clenbuterol to livestock to produce leaner, more valuable meat.

Based on what it describes as FIFA’s “compelling evidence”, Wada has also dropped its appeal against the decision of the Mexican football federation not to sanction five senior Mexican players who tested positive for clenbuterol at the Concacaf Gold Cup in June.

http://www.ianabolicsteroids.com/blog/tag/football-world-cup/

 

[LogicSoDeveloped]

That is a lot of piss and blood.

1a) Do you think that athletes should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs?
1b) Isn't that what people really want to see?
1c) Does it matter if the drugs are likely to shorten their lifespans or cause physical or mental damage?

yes
yes
yes, athletes are people too and its kind of sad that they feel pushed to harm their bodies/minds in the long term for a short term goal.