Doping Scandals and Legal Framework

26th February, 2025 - 10:21 am Categories: Doping 0 Comments

INTRODUCTION

Doping has seemingly reached epidemic proportions in sports, jeopardizing not only the integrity of athletic competition but also raising serious ethical, health, and legal concerns. This research will examine the legal landscape of sports, specifically focusing on legal disputes stemming from doping and how they have fuelled recent international scandals. Furthermore, it will explore possible improvements to current enforcement strategies.

UNDERSTANDING DOPING

WHAT IS DOPING?

“Doping” refers to the use of banned substances in competitive sports. Performance-

enhancing drugs (PEDs) are another term used for drugs used by athletes to improve their athletic performance.

TYPES OF DOPING:

• Performance-enhancing substance:
  • Stimulants
  • Anabolic Steroids
  • Peptide hormones
  • Beta-2 Agonist
  • Narcotics
  • Diuretics
• Physical
  • Blood doping and gene doping are physical

Blood doping: Blood doping is a process through which the concentration of RBCs is increased.

It elevates haemoglobin which carries more oxygen to fuel an athlete’s muscles. This increases stamina and fights serious fatigue symptoms in athletes, especially in long- distance events.

Gene doping: Gene doping is the use of cells, genes, and genetic elements for purposes other than treatment, and the ability to improve athletic performance through gene expression modulation. Increasing muscle growth, blood production, endurance, and pan-resistance.

In such cases, nothing unusual would enter the bloodstream. So, officials would detect nothing in blood or wine tests. Some viruses target certain organs, such as the kidneys, and liver. Therefore, only samples are taken from these areas that could lead to detection.

IMPACT OF DOPING

• On Athletes: Health risks, bans, and reputational
• On Sports: Loss of trust among fans and
• On Society: Undermining the values of fair

WHO DECIDES WHETHER DOPING HAS OCCURRED?

Different agencies monitor anti-doping violations. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) is the biggest of these, and it has a comprehensive anti-doping program that is administered globally.

According to the WADA Code, this program will be incorporated into anti-doping policies in more than 660 leading sports entities, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee. These sports entities also have their federations.

National anti-doping agencies are organizations that fall under the USADA’s umbrella while implementing anti-doping standards in the United States.

Athletes playing in sports administered according to the WADA Code are subject to being tested at any time; in this case, these include testing in and out of competition through both urine and blood sample testing. Athletes are also sampled randomly when it comes to preventing doping use in sports. The number of samples to be collected and the method of collection all depend on such factors as doping history in the sport, type of sport, substances involved, and season duration.

The punishment received depends on the sport. According to the WADA Code, first-time offenders are suspended for 2 years, while a second offense will bring a lifetime ban. Still, the NFL, NBA, and NHL give lesser punishments to first-time offenders, even at the first instance, with a suspension of 4 game-20 game range.

NOTABLE DOPING SCANDALS

LANCE ARMSTRONG (American Road Racing Cyclist)

Lance Armstrong later admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs during each of his Tour de France wins in his career as a cyclist, including all seven titles. It was during his televised Q&A with Oprah Winfrey on January 13th, three years ago when he admitted to using a smorgasbord of prohibited substances, such as erythropoietin, testosterone, human growth hormone, and various corticosteroids. He further went on to admit to having undergone blood transfusions and also engaging in a variety of blood-doping procedures.

Erythropoietin (EPO), a blood-building hormone, is certainly therapeutically significant and constructive in the doping mitt that encased him. Cyclists formerly advised that it will undoubtedly feed a 10% power boost, making this ideal in a sport where improvement is measured not in minutes but in mere seconds. However, a study published by The Lancet in 2017 showed that EPO has no improved performance in well-configured settings. Thus, the drug could have been less effective in his case than initial beliefs led us to expect.

 BEN JOHNSON (Canadian Athlete)

Many consider the effects of doping scandals irreparable. Regarding the gripping episode involving the Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, the subject reigns supreme regarding the 100- meter sprint in 1988. It shattered the record by 9.79 seconds, winning the Seoul Olympics gold medal. However, the euphoria from setting such a personal record was short-lived when he was deemed persona non grata on the third day following the victory. The explanation given after that was nothing short of breaking hearts: he tested positive for anabolic steroids, which led to his undercover loss of position and record at that time.

Indeed, Johnson admitted to doping during the 1981 World Cup when he first started it, but he did not account for any specific substance during the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988.

The steroid information came through from his mentor and coach, Charlie Francis, during the Rubin hearings in 1989. The use of stanozolol as a performance-enhancing drug was discovered through a drug test for the improvement of performance in Johnson’s athletic career. Later on, after being caught once again, he got banned for violating doping rules in 1993 for the final time.

SACHIN CHAUDHARY (Indian Weightlifter)

Sachin Chaudhary, the Indian Paralympic powerlifter, has been banned by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for eight years due to his second Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV). The athlete is accused of having an unauthorized substance prohibited by the IPC Anti-Doping Code (IPC IF Rules).

A substance was found in Chaudhary’s urine sample provided during competition on December 4, 2021, in the men’s event up to 97 kg at the Tbilisi 2021 Para Powerlifting Senior World Championships. The substance was methandienone and strychnine, specifically named on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2021 Prohibited List under class S1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids and class S6 Stimulants.

WHY DOPING IS SUCH A BIG ISSUE?

Safety first! The most important reason doping is a big deal is the fact that many of these substances can have harmful and long-lasting side effects which may include the following:

Cardiovascular: irregular heart rhythm, elevated blood pressure, heart attack, sudden death

Central Nervous System: insomnia, anxiousness, depression, aggressive behavior, suicide, headache, addiction with withdrawal, psychosis, tremor, dizziness, stroke

Respiratory: nose bleeds, sinusitis

Hormonal: infertility, gynecomastia (enlarged breasts), decreased testicular size, low sex drive, acromegaly (coarse bones in face, hands, and feet), cancer

The second issue is more of a moral dilemma. These banned substances are used to gain an unfair advantage, significantly devaluing the spirit of competition.

As stated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the purpose of an anti-doping program is “to protect the athletes’ fundamental right to participate in doping-free sport and thus promote health, fairness and equality for athletes worldwide…”

INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK

World Anti-Doping Code (WADC):

The WADC serves as a global framework of rules and regulations designed to uphold anti- doping standards internationally. It is enforced by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and is subject to periodic reviews to incorporate new substances and technologies.

National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs):

1. Put into practice the guidelines of WADA on the national
2. Undertake testing, training, and

Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS):

1. Settle disputes over doping issues; often the highest court when contentious cases are
2. Key decisions have influenced the development of anti-doping

CHALLENGES IN ENFORCING ANTI-DOPING LAWS

Doping and Technological Advancement:

1. Secret substances development and gene
2. Detection methods have greatly lingered behind current

Implementation incongruity across jurisdictions:

1. Inconsistency in the laws and tests made by the nations against
2. Challenges in connecting inter-legal pieces in border-crossing

Whistleblower Protection:

There is insufficient coverage for those who report doping violation practices.

PROPOSE REFORMS AND SOLUTIONS

Stronger Whistleblower Mechanisms:

1. Enhance protections and incentivize
2. Example: WADA’s Speak Up!

Global Harmonization of Laws:

1. Align national anti-doping legislation with
2. Facilitate international cooperation in investigations and

Quality Funding for Exploration:

To strengthen tests for upcoming doping measures.

Athlete Education Programs:

Raise awareness about the risks of doping and the importance of clean sports.

CASE STUDY: FRAMEWORK OF INDIA ON DOPING

National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA):

The agency was established under the WADA Code, and its main aim is to conduct tests, case hearings, and campaigning for a clean sport in India.

Many dilemmas present themselves in India:

1. Scarce resources for huge
2. Athletes’ scant awareness about prohibited

The findings are as follows:

1. Acknowledged the introduction of anti-doping clauses to their
2. There has been greater involvement in government funding of their clean sports Doping scandals remain the most massive challenge against decency and sports spirit, as drug use kills the messages of fair gameplay, ungrudged labor, and humanly maximum execution value. In fighting doping, even with robust legal frameworks, the problem remained very dynamic as performance-enhancing substances and methods are vastly improving. They give a cross-sectional response through active and reactive response features for any event in their continuous evolution.

This necessitates a worldwide movement to enforce even more stringent anti-doping commitments in sports. They have to share a single set of laws and procedures, as well as contiguous test programs, and violator discipline. By funding nanoparticle technology to spot trending doping patterns like gene doping and micro doping as soon as that next

method is derived, we make sure that “cheaters” remain in that position.

Education also plays an extremely important role in fostering integrity cultures and attitudes on the part of athletes, who participate in sports domains. The complete growth of all campaigns must provide information on risky health effects arising from doping, athletes’

ethical duties, and appropriate infractions over time. These programs must be made available to the coaches, medical teams, and sports organizations so that they bring about an amiable environment to provide for maximum participation.

By embracing these measures and fostering international collaboration among stakeholders, the global sports community can rise above the challenges posed by doping scandals.

Through vigilance, innovation, and education, sports can continue to inspire, unite, and celebrate the true essence of human potential and fair competition.

Author: POOJYA NAGAR, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney.