At the University of Manitoba, kinesiology professor Sarah Teetzel has been researching cheating and doping in sports and cautions that the extent to which the Olympics is affected is not known.

“However, as past Olympic Games and scandals have shown us, it’s not unrealistic to think it could be prevalent,” she warns.

Teetzel says that athletes from developing countries tend to be the ones who are caught at Olympic events because their doping technology is a few years behind that of developed countries and education on doping rules may not be as widely available as it is in Canada.

She notes it’s unfortunate that some athletes using cold medications are being caught by the doping tests, but that’s a consequence of the tests needing to be broad in scope to take into account the variations in doping techniques that have been attempted over the years.

Teetzel says: “It’s even possible that doping tests are unfair in that they can make some athletes ineligible when they should be allowed to participate, and the testing procedure can violate a person’s rights to privacy and autonomy.”

She adds: “We can only speculate how athletes attempting to gain an advantage are trying to beat the tests, because every year there are better or more clever ways to get around the rules. We hope athletes understand that the chances of being caught are improving.”

Teetzel says there is some room for optimism, however: “Before the Beijing games, it was thought that we were only a few years away from the advent of gene doping - the logical next step in sports cheating. But we don’t see evidence of that yet, and it’s hoped that athletes would not agree to be guinea pigs for such gene manipulation experiments.”

For more information, please contact Sarah Teetzel, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, at: 204-474-8762