The tip of the iceberg: The Russian doping scandal reveals a widespread doping problem

Authors

  • Aaron Hermann Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide

Keywords:

Sports, drugs, PED’s, statistics

Abstract

The Russian doping scandal hit the sporting world hard. Thousands of Russian athletes had been tested regularly by anti-doping officials, yet despite the revelation of state sponsored doping few failed these tests. Previous research has shown that doping may be more widespread than commonly believed. This research uses the Russian doping scandal as a framework to investigate to what extent this problem may be a bigger issue than has been revealed through official anti-doping statistics. An investigation of sporting performance records, including Olympic medal counts and performances, dating back to the 1800’s was undertaken. The results revealed that the Russian doping scandal was only the tip of the iceberg, that there is evidence that doping is far more widespread than previously believed and that perhaps countries once thought of as clean may have in the past run similar doping programs.

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Published

2019-10-31

Issue

Section

Articles