With the AFL and NRL “doping scandals” grinding on it seems there’s no end in sight to this saga. But there should be – and soon. Anti-doping will never work and should be replaced with a different approach…
Catching all dopers would be an expensive exercise, running into tens of millions of dollars.
EPA/Dominic Favre
On the back of an interim report by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) into the Essendon Football Club’s controversial supplements program in 2011-12, the AFL last night charged the club…
Cyclist Stuart O'Grady’s admission to doping is an important moment in Australian sport.
Ben Macmahon/AAP
Recently retired professional cyclist Stuart O’Grady is the latest elite Australian sportsperson to confess publicly to doping during his career. He admitted last week to using the banned blood oxygen…
World champion sprinters Tyson Gay (centre) and Asafa Powell (right) have tested positive to the banned substance oxilofrine.
EPA/Peter Klaunzer
American sprinter Tyson Gay and former 100m world record-holder Jamaican Asafa Powell are reported to be among six athletes to test positive for a banned substance: oxilofrine. But what is this drug that…
Essendon champion Jobe Watson said this week he believes he was injected with a banned substance - but who is to blame for the saga surrounding him and his club?
AAP/David Crosling
Essendon captain and reigning Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson has admitted that he believes he was injected with the banned substance AOD-9604. The anti-obesity drug is at the centre of the ASADA investigation…
Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Mark Cavendish, Philippe Gilbert, Tejay van Garderen, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador in front of the map for the ‘cleanest tour ever’. But have attitudes towards doping in cycling changed in the past year?
EPA
The historic 100th edition of the Tour de France, kicking off tomorrow in Porto-Vecchio, Corsica, is being heralded by many as the cleanest Tour ever. This year’s Tour favourite, Britain’s Chris Froome…
Essendon captain Jobe Watson was at the centre of the latest drugs-in-sport scandal this week after admitting he took a banned substance.
AAP
It’s been more than four months since Australia’s “blackest day” in elite sport, with allegations of widespread misuse of drugs and other substances. After several years of high-profile cases of drugs-in-sport…
There may be “health risks” associated with GW501516, but what are they?
Hannibal/EPA
This article was updated on April 12, 2013, and includes responses from WADA and GSK. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has taken the unusual step of warning athletes about the health risks of the banned…
Myths surround the use of polygraph machines.
Lie detector photo from Shutterstock.
Please, sit down. Try not to sweat. Just relax. Now, answer honestly: could lie detectors succeed where current anti-doping measures in sport are failing? If you answered “yes” you are not alone. There…
Unnamed players from the Cronulla Sharks NRL club are being investigated over the alleged use of performance-enhancing drug TB-4 … but what is it?
AAP Image
Fairfax Media reported today that 14 players from the Cronulla Sharks NRL club may be suspended by the Australian Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) for the alleged use of a substance called thymosin beta-4 (TB-4…
Is our current form of hyper-competitive sport transgressive of fair play?
Art-Of-2
What’s the point of anti-doping? And what’s the point of sport in the early 21st century? Is the current system of anti-doping good for our kids, our athletes and is it good for sport? Is it even good…
The interrogation may be mightier than the drug test when it comes to sniffing out cheats.
Syringe image via www.shutterstock.com
In terms of its narrative structure, the recent crime commission report on drugs in sport clearly owes a debt to Cluedo. The popular board game opens with a heinous crime: a murder has been committed…
Coach of Essendon James Hird talks with assistant coach Mark Thompson in 2011.
AAP/Martin Philbey
The Australian Crime Commission report released last week, Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport, claims Australian sport, especially at the professional level, has a serious drug use problem. According to…
Australian sport was supposed to be clean. What went wrong?
AAP/Lukas Coch
The Australian Crime Commission report, Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport, has come as a hammer blow to Australian sport. According to a review of cycling released only last month, Australia is supposed…
The use of banned performance enhancing substances and illicit drugs is widespread in Australian sport and sometimes supported by coaches and scientists, according to a new report released by the Australian…
An ASADA investigation has been launched into the alleged use of supplements by Essendon players last year.
AAP/Ben Macmahon
By now you’ll have heard the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) is investigating Essendon Football Club. At this stage, there has been speculation about the injection of “peptides” by players…
Armstrong managed to “control the narrative” in the past … but what about now?
anonymousview
By using performance-enhancing drugs, even before he was diagnosed with cancer, it would appear Lance Armstrong was obsessed with becoming and staying a winner early on. Indeed, in his two-part interview…
A WADA-authorised amnesty might be a better method of cleaning up cycling rather than simply punishing those who doped.
Ben Macmahon/AAP
Amid the mountains of words written in Australia about Lance Armstrong’s recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, there has been surprisingly little serious debate about what this case means for how we should…
The Armstrong confession tells us a lot about our relationship with the media and sportspeople.
AAP Image/Oprah.com
By now you would have heard about Lance Armstrong’s “world exclusive” encounter with Oprah Winfrey. The first half of the two-part interview aired this afternoon (AEST), attracting much attention from…
Lance Armstrong should reveal the dirty business of being a professional athlete.
EPA/Elizabeth Kreutz
What I want from Lance Armstrong is the unabridged and brutal truth. It’s very simple. I want to know why he doped. Unlike other commentators, I am hoping Armstrong avoids mea culpa and throwing himself…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford