Saturday 13, Sep 2008
Boosting and steroids – IPC is busy keeping an eye on violators
Cheats will always find ways to gain unfair advantage. So far, four athletes have been tested positive for steroids and other banned compounds at the Beijing Paralympics but it looks like the International Paralympic Committee has one more problem to contend with other than the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Read on to know more about this other problem.
Athletes without disabilities have only steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to use to gain competitive edge. Paraplegic athletes can go through two avenues – chemicals or voluntary autonomic dysreflexia, otherwise known as boosting. Reuters reports on this almost macabre method:
Self-flagellation, mutilation, bladder constriction — welcome to the world of the Paralympic cheat who reaches for a belt or a sharp object rather than a banned substance to gain an edge in elite competition.
The grisly practice of voluntary autonomic dysreflexia — commonly known as boosting — involves disabled athletes beating, stabbing and strapping parts of the body to provoke an adrenalin rush that might improve their performance by up to 25 percent, or failing that, kill them.
“We are talking about headaches, gooseflesh, brain damage, arterial disruption…there have even been cases of athletes passing away,” said Peter Van de Vliet, medical and scientific director of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
While generally not regarded as a widespread problem, adherents were found in all sports that catered to athletes whose disabilities precluded a circular central nervous response, said Van de Vliet, such as those with spinal cord injuries.
In essence, athletes who could harm parts of their bodies without feeling pain.
“Typically athletes can induce this through strapping or clamping the bladder or sitting on something sharp because we know that pain stimuli can induce a similar reaction on the…nervous system.
“We find these athletes in table tennis in severe (disability) classes, swimming, in wheelchair racing, they are in cycling.”
The IPC is on the lookout of this illicit practice since it provides unfair advantage as well as health risks to athletes. However, testing for it is proving to be more problematic compared to conventional doping cases, such as the use of anabolic steroids. One way to test for boosting is through high blood pressure readings and IPC officials know they still need to find other testing methods to detect violators.
Autonomic dysreflexia occurs when the blood pressure of an individual with a spinal cord injury becomes excessively high due to the overactivity of Autonomic Nervous System. The overactivity may be caused by painful stimuli, such as those mentioned in the article above. The most common symptoms of this condition are sweating, pounding headache, tingling sensation on the face and neck, blotchy skin around the neck and goose bumps. However, these symptoms may not appear simultaneously and their severity varies.
The Reuters article says that money could be the motivating factor for athletes to commit this act as financial incentives, in the form of government funding and corporate sponsorships, await triumphant athletes.
“There are certainly more incentives for Paralympic athletes these days,” said Canadian Sarah Hunter, a professional wheelchair tennis player. Hunter has been tested at least 10 times this year. “The stakes are definitely higher,” Hunter added.
Tags: adrenalin rush, anabolic steroids, Beijing Paralympics, boosting, buy steroids, competitive edge, International Paralympic Committee, paraplegic athletes, self-flagellation, steroids, voluntary autonomic dysreflexia
Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Olympics, Steroids in Sports
As promised, we’ll keep you posted on the ongoing Paralympic Games in Beijing. So far, we’ve only reported two Paralympic athletes who were kicked out of the Games because they tested positive for