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