Hall of Shame - Dopers at the Olympics

[Tuariki]

The "Days Best Reading" lists the Olympic Hall of doping shame.

Summaries are as follows:

By Games
1976 - 1
1980 - 0
1984 - 4
1988 - 1
1992 - 4
1996 - 5
2000 - 4
2004 - 13
2008 - 5
2012 - 3

By Country
8 - USA
6 - Russia
6 - Belarus
2 - Hungary
2 - Greece
16 - 1 each for 16 different countries

[Daisy]

Who got the 76 positive? And when did the first rules against PED's begin?

[Tuariki]

Danuta Rosani of Poland in womens discus

[aaronk]

Verrrrrry interesting that the ONLY OG withOUT a doping bust was the 1980 Moscow Games!!!

[Tuariki]

Verrrrrry interesting that the ONLY OG withOUT a doping bust was the 1980 Moscow Games!!!

The Moscow drug testers probably went to the same training school as the Moscow officials for the men's TJ.

[Rog]

The rumours about the 80 and 84 Games suggest rather higher levels of doping than officially reported!

Just remind me again, who tested positive in 88? Don't think that one was reported much

[Powell]

The rumours about the 80 and 84 Games suggest rather higher levels of doping than officially reported!

The level had most probably been high for a while before the testing started.

[Rog]

The rumours about the 80 and 84 Games suggest rather higher levels of doping than officially reported!

The level had most probably been high for a while before the testing started.

I'm pretty sure doping in our sport has been widespread for decades, long before 80 and 84, but I was referring to reports such as Soviet athletes turning up for races bleeding from recent injections, and the US team enjoying a pre-Olympic amnesty on drug use in 84. Plus in the latter case the story about the positive drug test results that were "lost".

[noone]

List is not complete, they left out Kenteris and Thannou, to name just two, maybe because they were DQed before they were able to compete in 2004?

[bambam]

Who got the 76 positive? And when did the first rules against PED's begin?

The IOC formed a medical commission working group in 1961 and made it a formal Medical Commission in 1967. Doping was first tested for at the 1968 Olympics with the only positive going to a Swedish modern pentathlete who had drunk a few beers prior to the shooting portion to calm his nerves.

The incentives to test for doping really occurred in the early-to-mid 60s with the deaths of cyclists Knut Enemark Jensen (1960 Olympic team time trial - he was loaded with amphetamines) and Tom Simpson (1967 Tour de France on Mont Ventoux - he was loaded with virtually all known pharmacology for that era).

[bambam]

List is not complete, they left out Kenteris and Thannou, to name just two, maybe because they were DQed before they were able to compete in 2004?

Well, if you really want the full list, which I sent to E Garry there are about 20 more. Garry didn't like some of the inclusions for various reasons so we settled on the list of only those who were DQed after actually competing. The other list included all the out-of-competition eliminations which really gets difficult as to who to include and who not to - Garry really didn't like that we had Dieter Baumann for 2000, although he is listed in various sources (his positive test was the prior October).

Kenteris and Thannou do not make any doping list for the Olympics, however. They were not out of the Olympics for a doping positive. They had the "purported" motorcycle accident a day or two before the Games and missed a test as a result. They were then withdrawn from the Games because of the suspicion that this was a made-up accident to miss the test. They were not disqualified until later for missing too many tests.

[gh]

Your original list didn't include the two Greeks either.

As I noted to Bill at the time, once you get away from a tight set of parameters, where do you stop? Why should a Baumann out-of-competition test in October of '99 be on an Olympic doping list? If he's there, then everybody who tested positive starting in late '98 through most of '00 should be on the list under the same rubric as Baumann.

Indeed, to be "complete" such a list would have to have Ben Johnson for '96, '00, '04, '08, '12 (and so on, in perpetuity, after his lifetime ban).

[tandfman]

The incentives to test for doping really occurred in the early-to-mid 60s with the deaths of cyclists Knut Enemark Jensen (1960 Olympic team time trial - he was loaded with amphetamines) and Tom Simpson (1967 Tour de France on Mont Ventoux - he was loaded with virtually all known pharmacology for that era).

Despite that, it took more than three decades for track & field to begin year-round unannounced out-of-competition testing. We now know that any anti-doping program that does not include 24/7/365 unnanounced testing can and will be be circumvented.

[gh]

almost right, because we know that a 24/7/365 unannounced program can also be circumvented if it only tests for urine; with blood some at least like to fantasize that that's "foolproof" (me, I have my doubts)