Duncan Mackay discovers a computer link to the tangled web of dope trafficking in sport
THE Olympic athlete sat in front of his personal computer and dialled a telephone number on his modem. Within seconds, he was connected to an Internet site that offered him the most sophisticated drugs on the market.
“Dear Friend and Fellow Athlete” appeared on his screen. “Today, like never before, elite bodybuilders, top models, world-class athletes … are safely using anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancement substances to achieve superior results.”
It goes on to describe the use of human growth hormone, including the new advanced strain of the undectable substance IGF-1, and anabolic steroids. It also tells you how to take them.
Revealed exactly are the number of days that athletes must stop taking a particular drug in order to avoid detection during competition.
For $30, it is possible to order a two-week supply of a steroid such as Oxandrolone — originally developed as a treatment for Aids — which helps promote strength and muscular hardness.
According to the on-screen dealer, its effectiveness rating for sportsman is eight on a scale of 10. Oxandrolone is one of only several banned substances it is possible to have delivered to your home.
For years, dope testers have complained they have been playing a game of catch-up with the drugs cheat.
This latest use of the information superhighway leaves the testers further adrift.
The Internet is replacing the doper’s bible, The Underground Steroid Handbook, which was readily available in the Olympic village in Barcelona four years ago — but at a price.
The secret publishers used red paper to avoid photocopying. They no longer need to take that precaution, because for a small fee, charged directly to a credit card, the information is now available on a worldwide web site.
In Atlanta, anti-doping officials will be armed with the stealth bomber of their profession — the high-resolution mass spectrometer, a $300 000 machine that is claimed can detect drug residue in much smaller proportions than previous testing methods.
Three of the machines being installed in the Atlanta lab were used at the world weightlifting championships last year with dramatic results: drug positives in 6,2% of the samples tested, compared with 0,85% the year before.
The IOC ordered the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (Acog) to use the mass spectrometers. Acog repeatedly voiced objections, leading to speculation — vehemently denied — that those in charge feared too many drug positives and that a label of the “Doping Games” would overshadow all else.
The late installation of the new machinery delayed accreditation of the Atlanta lab, and final clearance was obtained only last week.
That could pose a problem if a drug test is challenged; part of the defence of test procedures usually includes a lab’s track record, and the Olympic lab in Atlanta won’t have one.
But Dr Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, a French expert on performance-enhancing drugs, who has recently written a book on the subject, has called the machines only “a publicity stunt to cover up the immense failings of the doping controls”.
He said the devices were useful only for detecting anabolic steroids, but totally ineffective in uncovering the use of synthetic hormones that are similar to those naturally produced by the body.
Even IOC officials admit that there is still no means of testing for EPO, the blood-doping drug, or human growth hormone — the two substances most popular among elite athletes these days.
De Mondenard says a “virtual mafia” is operating within high-performance sports, including large companies and major pharmaceutical laboratories.
“These are very expensive products,” he said. “There are doctors, chemists, pharmacists and laboratories that make millions in trafficking them.
“There are cases of sponsors who pay for these `cures’ for the athletes they sponsor or obtain the synthetic hormones they need.”