Doping is huge news at the moment. In the past few months Lance Armstrong made a rocky transition from worldwide icon of perseverance and charity to media outcast making tearful confessions on daytime TV. In a recent interview with Oprah he claimed that without EPO and blood doping, he would never have won the Tour de France once, let alone seven times.
Against this back drop a lot of people are asking the same questions. Just what is blood doping? What is EPO, and how exactly are they intended to help athletes improve their performance? Those questions can be answered here.
What is Blood Doping?
Officially, this is defined as the use of techniques and substances to artificially increase the number of red blood cells in the athlete's system. For the most part, Armstrong stuck to the popular method of Autologous Doping, which is doping with actual blood.
Two pints of blood are removed from the body and frozen, keeping the cells alive. This is done a fortnight before any competition, allowing the body to replace the lost blood cells. Within a couple of days of the contest the blood is thawed and injected directly back into the bloodstream, substantially increasing the athlete's count of red blood cells.
Then what is EPO?
A naturally occurring hormone produced by the kidneys named Erythropoietin, regulating the creation of red blood cells. Injecting EPO is far quicker and easier than Analogous doping, with the technique stimulating bone marrow to produce more red blood cells.
Why do it?
Red blood cells contain the protein haemoglobin. When red blood cells reach the lungs the haemoglobin binds with oxygen, carrying it around the body. This oxygen is delivered to the muscles as part of the aerobic respiratory process, allowing for long-term cardio exercise.
By increasing the number of red blood cells in their systems, athletes are able to move more oxygen to their muscles in a shorter time, letting them work for longer periods without fatiguing.
Is it dangerous?
There are severe risks involved with either method. Both increase the thickness of the blood, requiring the heart to strain itself more when pumping it around the body. This doesn't pose a problem during the competitions themselves, but when the body is resting blood flow becomes incredibly slow. There's a real risk of heart attacks, or blood clots forming to create cerebral or pulmonary embolisms.
Where athletes were unable to freeze their own blood they would sometimes use Homologous doping, blood from other people. This has been known to result in allergic reactions and the spread of disease.
Why wasn't he caught?
EPO has been becoming increasingly widespread since the 1980s, though anti-doping authorities only discovered a way to reliably detect it in 2000. After this point many athletes returned to the undetectable Analogous doping, along with Armstrong himself.
The nature of these doping techniques makes it highly difficult to identify offenders within the sport, Armstrong confessed after another cyclist made widespread accusations, and no positive tests for EPO have ever been produced. Moving forward, it's best to hope that recent allegations will lead to a greater emphasis on honesty in the cycling community.
Arnold Nevsky is constantly trying to keep up to date in the world of fitness. From supplements to illegal doping there's a lot of controversy out there, and plenty to write about.
Against this back drop a lot of people are asking the same questions. Just what is blood doping? What is EPO, and how exactly are they intended to help athletes improve their performance? Those questions can be answered here.
What is Blood Doping?
Officially, this is defined as the use of techniques and substances to artificially increase the number of red blood cells in the athlete's system. For the most part, Armstrong stuck to the popular method of Autologous Doping, which is doping with actual blood.
Two pints of blood are removed from the body and frozen, keeping the cells alive. This is done a fortnight before any competition, allowing the body to replace the lost blood cells. Within a couple of days of the contest the blood is thawed and injected directly back into the bloodstream, substantially increasing the athlete's count of red blood cells.
Then what is EPO?
A naturally occurring hormone produced by the kidneys named Erythropoietin, regulating the creation of red blood cells. Injecting EPO is far quicker and easier than Analogous doping, with the technique stimulating bone marrow to produce more red blood cells.
Why do it?
Red blood cells contain the protein haemoglobin. When red blood cells reach the lungs the haemoglobin binds with oxygen, carrying it around the body. This oxygen is delivered to the muscles as part of the aerobic respiratory process, allowing for long-term cardio exercise.
By increasing the number of red blood cells in their systems, athletes are able to move more oxygen to their muscles in a shorter time, letting them work for longer periods without fatiguing.
Is it dangerous?
There are severe risks involved with either method. Both increase the thickness of the blood, requiring the heart to strain itself more when pumping it around the body. This doesn't pose a problem during the competitions themselves, but when the body is resting blood flow becomes incredibly slow. There's a real risk of heart attacks, or blood clots forming to create cerebral or pulmonary embolisms.
Where athletes were unable to freeze their own blood they would sometimes use Homologous doping, blood from other people. This has been known to result in allergic reactions and the spread of disease.
Why wasn't he caught?
EPO has been becoming increasingly widespread since the 1980s, though anti-doping authorities only discovered a way to reliably detect it in 2000. After this point many athletes returned to the undetectable Analogous doping, along with Armstrong himself.
The nature of these doping techniques makes it highly difficult to identify offenders within the sport, Armstrong confessed after another cyclist made widespread accusations, and no positive tests for EPO have ever been produced. Moving forward, it's best to hope that recent allegations will lead to a greater emphasis on honesty in the cycling community.
Arnold Nevsky is constantly trying to keep up to date in the world of fitness. From supplements to illegal doping there's a lot of controversy out there, and plenty to write about.
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