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In my previous postings, I discussed how anabolic steroids are commonly used by athletes to help gain an unfair advantage over their competition and can also help increase healing times. In almost every sport using these drugs are illegal. To prevent athletes from having an unfair advantage many sports organizations want athletes tested for performance enhancing drugs before they compete and sometimes immediately after.

Are athletes trying to beat anabolic steroid tests?

The main motivation for an athlete to train so hard is to be the best in their sport. Following the desire to be best, greed and financial success is the other motivation pushing the athlete. Success could transform into a professional contract or even endorsements and profitable rewards. For those reasons, it is not a surprise that some athletes “juice” to get the edge over the competition. In addition to taking performance enhancing drugs, athletes will also try to beat steroid testing and not get caught cheating. Some common methods used are these: blocking agents such as Probenecid to slow the secretion of anabolic steroids, diuretics are used to dilute urine and increase the excretion of water, substituting non-user (clean) urine, and injecting epitestosterone to lower testosterone level at the time of testing. Athletes on the juice will continue to seek and find a ways to counter the detection of steroids. I always wonder if sporting organizations are only concerned when the media is exposing their guilty athlete and normally turn a blind eye. http://drug-test-answers.com/can-you-beat-anabolic-steroid-tests/

Do all sports test for steroids?

Some sports have a very stringent policy on testing while others are very lax and a complete joke. The top 4 sports having the most stringent policy are in this order: US Boxing/IBF has the strictest policy as it tests every boxer after every championship and elimination bout for controlled substances, painkillers, barbiturates, steroids, amphetamines and marijuana. I found it amusing that boxing is the strictest. You would think boxing would be at the end of the list with its history corruption. The Olympics is also at the top and uses the World Anti-Doping Agency Code. All athletes who establish a world record or an Olympic record are tested; precompetition testing at any time and finally the top five finishers in individual events plus two other athletes are also tested. Next on the list is Tennis, followed by Track and Field and both using the WADA Code for testing. In case you’re wondering, the WADA Code is a document in place with strict rules and regulations regarding anti-doping in sports, so there may be a level playing field for athletes in all counties. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) is an international independent organization monitoring doping in sports, but used mostly in international sports such as the Olympics for example. Finally, listed at the bottom, is the Canadian football League and the ESPN X games (extreme sports), both having the most slack and really nonexistent testing policy. I will include “entertainment sports” even though they are not really considered sports, where anything goes and “juicing” is probably encouraged, such as Pro Wrestling and Strongman completions.

How are athletes tested for performance enhancing drugs?

Standard testing usually begins with the athletes collected urine specimen. The sample submitted should be at least 30ml. To ensure the urine sample is real and from the actual athlete the collection requires an embarrassing visual confirmation, during the giving process. In some cases, even the temperature of the sample will indicate whether the sample is real or not. The sample is then sealed in a tamper proof container; the sample bag is signed by both the person administering the test, as well as the person taking the test, to ensure that it has not been tampered with. Once the sample has reached the lab, it is opened and placed in a gas chromatograph for thermionic specific detection and flame ionization detection. Through this process, a medical technologist can determine whether or not anabolic steroids are currently in the system, or by-products created by anabolic steroids are in the system. The test detects both testosterone and a related steroid called epitestosterone, which is not performance-enhancing. Both are produced by the body and are also made in synthetic. “The usual ratio for both substances is about 1:1 or 2:1”, said Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine (Tanner, 2006). Wadler also said, “Suspicions for improper steroid use arise when the ratio climbs above 4 parts testosterone over 1 part epitestosterone” (Tanner, 2006). Athletes who use performance-enhancing steroids often take synthetic epitestosterone to equalize the ratio, said Charles Yesalis, who is a retired Pennsylvania State University professor and doping expert (Tanner, 2006). There is no medical use for synthetic epitestosterone; it is only really is used to cheat drug tests. Although these effective methods exist for detecting the presence of illegal steroids in urine, they are time consuming and involve burdensome preparation steps. The worse part about testing is embarrassment and inconvenience honest athletes have to endure. A marathon runner after accomplishing a fantastic race and impressive finishing time is rushed off to a small designated area where he or she has to submit a sample for testing. What a way to deflate a moment of celebration!

I will be discussing the future of performance enhancing drugs and testing in my next blog posting… so stay tuned!

Tanner, L. (2006), Testing procedures can detect athletes' steroid use, Steroid.Com, retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://www.steroid.com/sitenews/Adolescents-Steroids/Testing-procedures-can-detect-athletes-steroid-use.php