The 'Enhanced' Olympics?

With the Olympic Games around the corner, drug tests are almost at an all time high as athletes prepare for an intense summer of sporting prowess and talent. From the speeds of Usain Bolt to the endurance of Mo Farah, the Olympics is truly the greatest gathering of athletes across the world. But today, we're going to delve deep into how some athletes prepare for this prestigious competition.

 Looking back at the 2012 London Olympics, it was a great success for the USA as they topped the table for the most medals attained, with: 46 golds; 29 silvers and 29 bronzes. But, after the games, some athletes were stripped of their winnings as they tested positive for banned substances and therefore lost their 'achievements'. The list of athletes were:
  • Nadzeya Ostapchuk - Belarus (Gold medal in women's shot put)
  • Darya Pishchalnikova - Russia (Silver medal in women's discuss throw)
  • Soslan Tigiev - Uzbekistan (Bronze medal in men's wrestling freestyle 74kg)
  • Tyson Gay - United States of America (Silver medal in men's 4×100 metres relay)
  • Asli Cakir Alptekin - Turkey (Gold medal in women's 1500m)

Tyson Gay stands out against the rest as he is one of the fastest men in the world with a personal best of 9.69 seconds for the 100 metres which makes him the joint 2nd fastest man in the world after Usain Bolt. But in July 2013, he tested positive for a banned substance (DHEA) and was stripped of his Silver medal in the Men's 4×100 metres relay for the USA (link below).
DHEA is a steroid hormone which is the most abundant steroid hormone in humans. It functions as a metabolic intermediate (molecules which can play huge roles in allosteric regulation of enzymes) and is able to bind to cell surface receptors and act as a neurosteroid (steroids that can alter the opening and closing of ion channels). As a result, it is able to develop the maintenance of male characteristics in vertebrates by binding receptors. This can then lead to faster reflexes from the body as chemical messages are sent and received a lot more quickly. Linking this back to the context of Tyson Gay, it can therefore allow him to successfully launch from the start.

As an athlete with his calibre, attempting to use banned substances to enhance your performance can be detrimental towards his career as you could lose sponsorship and money (Gay missed out on a sponsorship with Nike due to this) affecting your equipment for training. As a result, Tyson Gay went on to withdraw from the Moscow World Championships as well as having his medal stripped and banning him from competitions until June 23, 2014. Although Gay commented about a third party, "I basically put my trust in someone and was let down." With Tyson Gay looking to be competing at the Rio Olympics, will he be monitored closely?

With the Olympics upon us and athletes in their final stages of preparation, could there be speculation to performance enhancing drugs? Let us know in the comments

Thank you for reading this weeks post
Written by Universal Medicine (Sab Bassan)

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