Guardian: WADA study shows cycling still the worst

[mtb Dad]

Darn. I was thinking it was getting better. Maybe the overall decline is reason for optimism. But why don't the passport, bans and scandals translate into an improvement relative to other sports?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/jul/04/olympics-2012-athletics?newsfeed=true

Of the 26 sports included in the 2012 Games, the worst offender in terms of the rate of findings per sample (averaged across all eight years) is cycling, 3.71%.

Footballers were the most tested athletes in terms of the total number of samples (30,398), followed by athletics (25,013), cycling (21427) and aquatics (13138).

Let's hope the "averaged over 8 years" hides a more recent improvement.

 

[mtb Dad]

Maybe it does show a better decline than other sports. Finally figured out how to read the graph. (If you click on a sport, each individual sports graph line shows up. Cycling does appear to have a pretty good drop in positives, better than the others.) Be still my beating heart.

 

[Suedehead]

Maybe it does show a better decline than other sports. Finally figured out how to read the graph. (If you click on a sport, each individual sports graph line shows up. Cycling does appear to have a pretty good drop in positives, better than the others.) Be still my beating heart.

Weight lifting, number 1 dirty sport.
However table tennis and archery has a bigger drug problem than either athletics, swimming, rowing, and canoeing. Makes me skeptical.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Interesting data set.

I was looking online for something similar just recently.

Downloaded the excel file for later perusal.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

If you test more, you find more. Simple as that.

I guess otherwise American Football, Bodybuilding and weight lifting would be the worst.

 

[D-Queued]

Darn. I was thinking it was getting better. Maybe the overall decline is reason for optimism. But why don't the passport, bans and scandals translate into an improvement relative to other sports?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/jul/04/olympics-2012-athletics?newsfeed=true

Of the 26 sports included in the 2012 Games, the worst offender in terms of the rate of findings per sample (averaged across all eight years) is cycling, 3.71%.

Let's hope the "averaged over 8 years" hides a more recent improvement.

I thought Fat Pat told us long ago that doping in cycling was a less than 1% problem?

Dave.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Footballers were the most tested... 30,000 as opposed to 21,000 for cycling.

All's well and good, but how many footballers in the world as compared to cyclists?

For the record, the graph in the article shows a downward trend in cycling.

 

[MarkvW]

If you test more, you find more. Simple as that.

I guess otherwise American Football, Bodybuilding and weight lifting would be the worst.

Many American football linemen look like experiments gone horribly wrong.

 

[Caruut]

The type of test and amount of forewarning is another factor that a simple number of tests doesn't show.

 

[Lanark]

The number of positive tests says very little about the level of doping use. To be honest, I find a very low % of positive tests to be more worrying than a large percentage.

 

[JA.Tri]

There are so many variables:

Who was tested? professionals, top amateurs, registered recreational athletes...

If there was a significant weighting towards more affluent football players...for instance...then their doping anti detection service is probably more effective at avoiding detection.

Trying to assess just what the data means is fraught with difficulty, potholes and probable erroneous conclusions.

 

[Nilsson]

Lousy numbers and interpretation. It's the paradox of anti doping: If you're looking for it, you'll find it. The only corroboration is there isn't much testing in Football...

 

[Ney the Viking]

Also, what do they test for in those tests. Afaik they dont test for epo in spanish football for instance. And I am sure there are lots of other examples.

 

[hiero2]

I think there are several reasons to regard this a hopeful, rather than pessimistic.
1. The period covered does go back 8 years.
2. The cycling positives show a significant decline.
3. The sports that are probably highest in terms of drug abuse are not Olympic sports - American football, bodybuilding, "Professional wrestling" (in quotes since WWE is not wrestling, but entertainment), MMA. Note that judo increased, boxing was also high, weightlifting was high and didn't change much. These are sports where competitors can gain advantage from drug use. I don't think an equestrian or a diver would gain much from drug use.
4. Where is track and field in there? Athletics? That might mask something.

Nah, I don't see anything to worry over much here.

 

[hrotha]

"Rate of findings per sample". When other sports are not even looking for EPO or HGH, that's all you need to read.

 

[silverrocket]

Footballers were the most tested... 30,000 as opposed to 21,000 for cycling.

All's well and good, but how many footballers in the world as compared to cyclists?

For the record, the graph in the article shows a downward trend in cycling.

More testing in Athletics too, was surprised it had lower % than cycling. Was also a bit surprised that it was only recently that cycling was pushed to #2 from #1 (by weightlifting).

 

[pelodee]

Footballers were the most tested... 30,000 as opposed to 21,000 for cycling.

All's well and good, but how many footballers in the world as compared to cyclists?

For the record, the graph in the article shows a downward trend in cycling.

"FIFPro is the worldwide representative organization for all professional players; more than 50,000 footballers in total."

 

[silverrocket]

"Rate of findings per sample". When other sports are not even looking for EPO or HGH, that's all you need to read.

Not true. Other sports do look for EPO (eg. biathlon, athletics) and the vast majority look for HGH.

It is also irrelevant. If they aren't looking for a drug that is only because it is not know to be a benefit. They don't look for beta blockers in cyclists, for example, yet certainly do in a shooting event like archery.

I think the numbers are a sound indication of trends in cheating, and comparisons of cheating between different sports, and once you get past the first line about cycling be the worst over the 8 year period, you can see that cycling has one of the sharpest declines. The title of this thread could have easily been "WADA study shows cycling one of the best".