Blood Doping in 1960!

[Darryl Webster]

I`d always thought Moser,s hour record of 84 was when cycling got introduced to this practice. Apparently not!

"Gastone Nencini of Italy, was discovered by Tour de France doctor Pierre Dumas in his bedroom with plastic tubes running from each arm to a bottle of blood; retransfusion was a legal practice at the time. In the 1930s Scandinavian runners were believed to have used retransfusion to increase the number of corpuscles that carry oxygen to the muscles. In 1972, Dr Björn Ekblom of the Sport and Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm found that retransfusing cells increased oxygen uptake by nine per cent and athletic potential by 23 per cent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

I
"Gastone Nencini of Italy, was discovered by Tour de France doctor Pierre Dumas in his bedroom with plastic tubes running from each arm to a bottle of blood..."

That must have been an awkward moment.

Doctor walks in.
Nencini: "You know... theres a funny story behind this..."

 

[Race Radio]

I`d always thought Moser,s hour record of 84 was when cycling got introduced to this practice. Apparently not!

"Gastone Nencini of Italy, was discovered by Tour de France doctor Pierre Dumas in his bedroom with plastic tubes running from each arm to a bottle of blood; retransfusion was a legal practice at the time. In the 1930s Scandinavian runners were believed to have used retransfusion to increase the number of corpuscles that carry oxygen to the muscles. In 1972, Dr Björn Ekblom of the Sport and Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm found that retransfusing cells increased oxygen uptake by nine per cent and athletic potential by 23 per cent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling

This stems from an incorrect translation. It was not a transfusion of blood but an early version of testosterone doping. Dumas spoke about it in detail in "Dictionnaire du dopage"

 

[Cloxxki]

That must have been an awkward moment.

Doctor walks in.
Nencini: "You know... theres a funny story behind this..."

Why awkward?
Doc sees blood, is worried soemthing the matter, and is reassured that all is under control. We're not taking any illegal substances, and are ready to offer urine and even blood samples after the race. What the heck, have a shot glass right now!
Blood transfusion may have been the 60's and 70's version of cadance.

 

[red_death]

I`d always thought Moser,s hour record of 84 was when cycling got introduced to this practice. Apparently not!

I don't know about cycling, but it was certainly rumoured in sport in the 70s - wasn't Lasse Viren rumoured to have used blood doping in the 72 and 76 Olympics (he won the 5000 and 10000m at both).

 

[Darryl Webster]

This stems from an incorrect translation. It was not a transfusion of blood but an early version of testosterone doping. Dumas spoke about it in detail in "Dictionnaire du dopage"

Cheers for that RR. Do you know how it worked..ie how the process upped testosterone levels?.

 

[D-Queued]

Blood doping absolutely occurred in sport by the 1970s, and probably earlier.

Foggy memory recalls a noteworthy case circa 1976 Olympics.

It was dangerous, not as refined/beneficial, storage was not anywhere near as good, and did not have the benefits of EPO to recover from self-extraction.

There are at least a couple of posters here that can shed more light on the improvements in separation, packing, storage and re-infusion in the last 50 years.

Dave.

 

[Race Radio]

Cheers for that RR. Do you know how it worked..ie how the process upped testosterone levels?.

Dumas called it "Serum" of human hormones. I have not read it for a while but IIRC he said it was testosterone. Testosterone had been available since the 40's so that description would make sense

 

[spalco]

It was dangerous, not as refined/beneficial, storage was not anywhere near as good, and did not have the benefits of EPO to recover from self-extraction.

You wouldn't necessarily have had to use your own blood though, right?

 

[DirtyWorks]

You wouldn't necessarily have had to use your own blood though, right?

Yes, maybe, no. There is real, life-threatening, risk in not using your own blood. http://www.pathology.med.umich.edu/bloodbank/manual/bbch_7/index.html Even then, the transfusion can go wrong.

People will still do it in uncontrolled environments for regardless of the risk. In this way, it's like smoking cigarettes. You can try to protect people from themselves, but it's almost impossible.

 

[buckle]

I don't know about cycling, but it was certainly rumoured in sport in the 70s - wasn't Lasse Viren rumoured to have used blood doping in the 72 and 76 Olympics (he won the 5000 and 10000m at both).

Are you saying that 1968 was the last Olympics with a status of clean? Seems plausible to me.

 

[red_death]

Are you saying that 1968 was the last Olympics with a status of clean? Seems plausible to me.

No, because I don't think you can generalise like that - you have to judge on an individual case.

Steroids have been around since at least the 50s IIRC.

 

[D-Queued]

Are you saying that 1968 was the last Olympics with a status of clean? Seems plausible to me.

??


Just trying to reconcile this statement with doping in the peloton:

Full name Thomas Simpson
Nickname Tommy
Born 30 November 1937
Haswell, County Durham, United Kingdom
Died 13 July 1967 (aged 29)
Mont Ventoux, France

He won a bronze medal at the 1956 Olympics aged 18, to which he added a silver at the Commonwealth Games two years later. He then became the first Englishman to break into the closed shop of professional cycling in continental Europe, racing to fourth place on his World Road Race Championship debut in 1960.

Maybe all doping was finished by 1967.

Dave.

 

[BigBoat]

You wouldn't necessarily have had to use your own blood though, right?

No, they never would use their own blood I dont think. That only would have started in early 2000s I think with the FACS test method.

I think.....blood doping started in the 70s but it didn't really catch on well. Only 1/3 of the US cycling team wanted it in 84.

 

[Suedehead]

I think it's safe to say that Lasse Viren blood doped both 72 and 76. Not illegal at the time but frowned upon. Lasse now drives a bus.

Joop Zoetemelk did blood transfusion during the tour 75 according to Friebes The Cannibal. On doctors order - anemia. Joop was uneasy with it and didn't do it again, although it worked perfectly well. That is the earliest blood doping in cycling that I have seen a credible source of. (And no, Friebe found no hint of a blood doping cannibal).

 

[Turner29]

Certainly by the 1980 Olympics and absolutely by the 1984 Olympics, Burke et al, one of the et als being Carmichael.