A.INTRODUCTION
The use of drugs in sports has had a long and well
documented history. The IAAF became the first International Sporting Federation
to prohibit doping, doing so in 1928 by including the following wordings in its
handbook:
“Doping is the use of any stimulant not normally employed to
increase the poser of action in athletic competition above the average. Any
person knowingly acting or assisting as explained above shall be excluded from
any place where these rules are in force or, if he is a competitor, be
suspended for a time or otherwise from further participation in amateur
athletics under the jurisdiction of this Federation.”
However, soon after World War II it became clear that many
athletes in a wide range of sports were using drugs to enhance their
performance. This practice was widespread, while measures to resist such use were
limited. The death of athletes in cycling events in 1960 and 1967, which was
traced to doping, aroused strong reactions and demand was made that sports
authorities should intervene.
The council of Europe first defined doping in 1963 as the
use of certain substances or the use of methods that could have the effect of
unnaturally improving the physical and/or mental condition of a contestant
before or during competition and thus enhance his or her sports performance.
Although the danger associated with the use of drugs was the initial incentive
for doping control, doping is now no less regarded as cheating and unethical.
