Doping: the incredible figures of the athletics worlds

A week or so, the scandal splashed the world championships in athletics … The New York Times has indeed revealed the results of a scientific study on doping in the world of athletics. And these revelations sounded like a bomb.

29% of athletes say they dope
On the one hand, because the figures are impressive. This study commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from a team of researchers reveals that 29% of athletes who participated in the 2011 World Athletics Championships, in Daegu, Korea, declared having used “a doping product or method, in knowledge of the facts over the past 12 months ”. The same questionnaire was offered to athletes participating in the Pan-Arab Games in Doha and there the rate climbed to 45%! Knowing that the study protocol guaranteed anonymity, the authors consider that these results are even underestimated. These figures contrast with the 2% positive results detected by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2010.
On the other hand, when the scientists sent their work to WADA in the spring of 2012, the latter did not see fit to make it public. She wanted to verify these results at another competition. Then, it was the International Athletics Federation which opposed the publication of this study.

Suspicious premature deaths

These results once again show that cycling is not the only sport to be affected by doping. In 1998, the death of the American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner, at the age of 38 from a cerebral attack during her sleep, had already alerted public opinion. In 2001, it was the former 10,000m world record holder, Richard Chelimo, who died at the age of 29 from brain cancer. “In the years to come, many athletes will die from doping,” said the double Moroccan Olympic champion, Hicham El Guerrouj, after the disappearance of the Kenyan founder. Believe me, there will be more untimely deaths. Hopefully the New York revelations will raise awareness and prevent such tragedies.