Abstract

In the ever-expanding drug testing programme in Track and Field Athletics, the total number of positive cases has ranged between 1,3 and 2,6 per cent of those tested. In the years 1985 and 1986, a total of 32 athletes were reported positive at athletic competitions or within the framework of domestic drug testing programmes. 28 of these doped athletes (88 per cent) were positive with anabolic steroids or testosterone and 4 (12 per cent) with stimulants. Since stimulating substances are taken with the intention of giving an immediate effect at the actual competition, it can be expected that the testing at competition is an effective deterrent. This explains the low figure of athletes found doped with stimulants, with the exception of ephedrine and its derivatives which is a special problem. Anabolic steroids and testosterone are, howewer, taken during the training period. Most of the anabolic steroid cases observed at competition can, therefore, be regarded as accidental findings which do not reflect the actual extent of the use of these drugs. Only by a widespread testing programme, outside competion, can the actual extent of the use of these drugs in sport be determined and the testing activities act as an effective deterrent. Verf.-Referat