The Anti-Doping Crisis in Sport

The sense of crisis that pervades global sport suggests that the war on doping is still very far from being won. In this critical and provocative study of anti-doping regimes in global sport, Paul Dimeo and Verner Møller argue that the current system is at a critical historical juncture. Reviewing the recent history of anti-doping, this book highlights serious problems in the approach developed and implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), including continued failure to accept responsibility for the ineffectiveness of the testing system, the growing number of dubious convictions, and damaging human-rights issues. Without a total rethink of how we deal with this critical issue in world sport, this book warns that we could be facing the collapse of anti-doping, both as a policy and as an ideology. The Anti-Doping Crisis in Sport: Causes, Consequences, Solutions is important reading for all students and scholars of sport studies, as well as researchers, coaches, doctors and policymakers interested in the politics and ethics of drug use in sport. It examines the reasons for the crisis, the consequences of policy strategies, and it explores potential solutions.

Paul Dimeo is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport at Stirling University, UK. Verner Møller is Professor in the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Preface 1. The Inadvertent Consequences of Anti-Doping 2. Origins and Emergence of the Anti-Doping Crisis 3. The Creation Of WADA: Politics, Olympism and the Illusion of Reform 4. Why Anti-Doping Fails 5. Collateral Damage 6. Problems with Medicine and Science 7. Social Stigma and Dehumanisation 8. Proposed Alternatives to the Current Anti-Doping Strategy 9. Recommendations for Radical Reform