Blood Doping: The secret steroid

Athletes have always done their best to gain an edge over their opponents, but the ways in which they have attempted to do so has changed over time. There are of course the non biological forms of cheating, for example in baseball the use of pine tar has served as a way of cheating for pitchers to get a better grip on the ball, and batters have sometimes put cork in their bats for extra power on their hits. Yet the most threatening form of cheating to athletics nowadays deals with the actual biology and makeup of an athletes body. In the most recent Olympics Russian athletes of many different sports were caught "doping," which can mean the use of anabolic steroids, stimulants, and even the act of altering an athletes blood composition in order to increase performance. These findings sparked an investigation that led to Russia being stripped of 37 Olympic medals, and Russian trainers and anti-doping officials to admit that it was a high scale operation across the country that included tampering of urine samples across the world's most prestigious athletic events throughout many years. As the talent in the athletic world improves athletes are forced to find ways to cheat their way to success, and currently one of the most relevant ways is through blood doping.

There are various different ways to take part in "blood doping," but essentially it is the use of certain techniques or substances to increase the amount of red blood cells in someone, or increase oxygen transport to muscles. These techniques are able to increase an athlete's stamina and their strength during workouts and competition because of the increased oxygen in their muscles. The first and least complicated way is through blood transfusions. Blood is removed from the individual resulting, and the athlete continues their usual training. Red blood cells only live for approximately 120 days until they are broken down and no longer work, so new red blood cells are continuously being made. The athlete gets used to training with a minimal amount of red blood cells which in turn results in less oxygen being brought to their muscles.  The oxygen in muscles are used for the process of cellular respiration which is responsible for the production of ATP and allowing a muscle to function. Therefore as athletes work out with the same intensity but with less energy for muscle usage they gain a familiarity with the amount of low energy needed to get a high amount of performance. Then just before the athletic event these athletes who do this form of cheating inject their own oxygenated blood back into the body, resulting in a abnormally high amount of red blood cells. The new amount of red blood cells increases oxygen transport, and the amount of ATP produced. Athletes are able to use this science to compete in their games or events and have their muscles continue to work even when fatigue sets in because of the greatly increased amount of oxygen going to their working muscles.

The second way in which the athletes alter their blood in order to gain a competitive advantage is through EPO injections. EPO is a peptide hormone produced in the body that is produced by bone marrow and released by the kidneys with the function of stimulating red blood cell production, and initiating hemoglobin synthesis, which is the actual molecule that carries oxygen. The EPO injection stimulates a feedback loop resulting in the increase of the quantity of red blood cells and hemoglobin to carry oxygen to muscles that need it. Like stated previously this greater oxygen transport and more ATP allows for an athlete to perform in a way they wouldn't have been able to before. This includes the athlete having greater stamina and greater muscle endurance.

\There is no doubt in the athletic community this new science increases performance, and world class athletes including Lance Armstrong and Tyson Gay have been caught and punished for using this banned method of improved performance. Yet there are side effects that can be costly to a person the first of which includes the thickening of the blood due to the increased amount of red blood cells. This results in the heart having to work much harder than it should, introducing the user to risk of blood clot, heart attack, and stroke. Also needles are used and reused to draw and inject blood from different people. This puts the blood doping athletes at risk of HIV and hepatitis.

Some may argue "It's still just blood being injected into the body, what's so bad with it?" This form of cheating is a danger to all forms of athletics as we know it. With the exception of golf essentially a player of any other sport would benefit from blood doping. Pitchers would have better arm endurance, cyclists could pedal harder, soccer players could run longer, offensive lineman wouldn't have to sub out of football games; the list goes on and on. In my own opinion as a avid sports fan and student athlete I feel very strongly against blood doping. If you want better endurance... run. If you want to get stronger... lift. If you want to be the best athlete you have to put in the work, and injecting extra red blood cells into your body at the right time is not the kind of work that should give someone the opportunity to win.

Lance Armstrong is the most famous athlete to be caught of cheating through blood doping. He was a seven time Tour de France champion, bronze medalist in the 2010 Olympic Games, and was considered the best cyclist to ever live. This all came crashing down when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released more than 1,000 pages of evidence in doping allegations against Armstrong and his teammates, and all of his titles were stripped. The world had their first major introduction to the new form of cheating by biologically altering the body. The new steroid. The cycling world was shocked that their hero and face of the sport had been cheating nearly his whole career. Armstrong would inject the EPO hormone into his blood and would get an increased amount of red blood cells as a result. He admitted to the deed, allegedly realized what he did was wrong, and has become an avid speaker of cleaning up the sport of cycling. In my opinion that's just a publicity stunt and dishonest. He can try and improve his image if he wants because he will always be the most famous cyclist of all time... because he's a cheater.



In order to learn more for this topic please fell free to visit the following links...
http://www.livescience.com/32388-what-is-blood-doping.html
http://www.menshealth.co.uk/fitness/blood-doping-in-sport
http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/the-science-of-blood-doping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7KZxIR1t-o