WADA’s analytical techniques
athletic performance. According toWADA, ‘ The [Banned Substance] List is updated annually following an extensive consultation process facilitated by WADA ’ , and contains many chemicals which they believe enhance sporting performance. The list includes substances such as anabolic steroids, which are prohibited at all times (in and out of conditions) since any amount at any time period will affect sporting performance – however, many substances are only prohibited during competition (since they have a short-termeffect) or only in certain sports (usually drugs that affect concentration, in sports such as shooting). 8 Although WADA claims to detect all of these drugs and states that they are all rightfully on this list, there have recently been many critics of the banned substance list. For example, there have been cases like that of former Liverpool Football Club defender Mamadou Sakho, who is suing WADA for £13,000,000 after they (in conjunction with the Union of European Football Associations) tested him positive for the fat-burning substance higenamine, and subsequently banned him from appearing in the 2016 Europa League Final and hence from being selected for France in that summer’s European Championships – however, the banned substance list at the time had not explicitly stated higenamine on it, and so Sakho’s ban was incorrectly enforced. 9 Furthermore, although there exists a sport-specific banned-substance list, authorities like the anti-doping manager for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Dr. Abhijit Salvi, say that ‘ WADA needs to rethink on the policies and the medicines have to be sports specific rather than having a general [banned substance] list ’ . 10 Although Sakho and Salvi believe that the banned list is too harsh, there are many who believe that some drugs have had so much financial funding that they could simply slip through the system and not be detected as performance- enhancing. However, Dr. Alan Brailsford told me that ‘ The list already has phrases such a s ‘and other substances with a similar chemical structure or similar biological effect(s).’ 11 So, in most cases, compounds are already prohibited if not already specifically named. ’ Therefore, if WADA’s funding grows, they will be able to analyse the structure of each compound in the athlete’s urine or blood and from there detect any new performance-enhancing drugs. Although the current banned substance list is very large, there is much confusion about how easily a new drug can be placed on the list and be regulated. Although WADA is developing better technology for detecting the use of performance-enhancing drugs and evolving a detailed banned substance list, many believe that one cannot solve the use of these substances without tackling the environment that causes many athletes to dope. In a conversation at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhi bition, Professor Sue Backhouse of Leeds Beckett University told me that athletes currently live in a ‘ dopogenic environment ’ , in which they are encouraged or even forced to take performance-enhancing drugs. 12 This environment has been caused by the great scale of competition in professional sport, a scale which causes many to dope so to have a chance of winning their event. For example, Brian Fogel’s Oscar -winning documentary Icarus revealed the structure of Russian state-controlled doping and persisted that this scheme was forced on every athlete and was overseen by direct associates of President Vladimir Putin. 13 Such large-scale doping means that many athletes do not have a choice but to dope, and hence Backhouse argues that doping should be reframed
8 World Anti-Doping Agency 2019. 9 Kirk 2019. 10 Sen 2019.
11 Brailsford 2019. 12 Backhouse 2019. 13 Fogel 2017.
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