Over the last few years there has been a growing discussion around the use of ‘peptides’ in the sports performance and wellbeing space. What are they and have they always been banned? Peptides A peptide is a molecule made up of a chain of amino acids. In the sports field…
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Often misunderstood – often unfair? The concept of strict liability in Anti Doping
My article on ostarine published earlier this week led to questions about how fair strict liability is (and what it really means!). Anti doping in sport is governed by the World Anti-Doping Code, written by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). The Code is the central document summarizing anti-doping policies,…
Ostarine: the performance-enhancing drug giving anti-doping agencies a headache
Tom Bassindale, Sheffield Hallam University A drug designed to help cancer patients rebuild wasting muscles has become one of the most contentious substances in elite sport – and the scientist who discovered it now spends more time trying to stop people using it than encouraging its medical use. James Dalton,…
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How THG Evaded Detection: A Dive into Steroid Chemistry
The death of Victor Conte last week, founder of the BALCO lab at centre of a massive steroid scandal, has brought back lots of memories of that time period. I was working in the London WADA lab at the time and it was quite exciting to be in the midst of it all. Why was the drug at the centre of it all known as ‘The Clear’?
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Enhanced Games – “Are You Not Entertained?”
The Enhanced Games is a new, multi event, international sports competition set to debut in May 2026 in Las Vegas. The point of difference? Actively encouraging the use of performance enhancing drugs. No more World Anti-Doping Agency rules, just medically supervised doping. Is this a new age in competition or a update to gladiatorial fights to the death?
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Can you use AI to dope?
“Give Me a Doping Programme to Improve my Marathon Time” We’ve all been reading about how AI is going to steal all our jobs, can it steal the job of the athlete support personnel in guiding the use of illicit methods to improve performance? As a recreational runner (‘hobby jogger’?)…
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World Anti-Doping Agency ban Carbon Monoxide use from 2026
In the last few weeks the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) have published their new list of prohibited substances and methods, as it does each year. This year they have added a new method onto the list – the non-diagnostic use of carbon monoxide (CO). Isn’t CO in the atmosphere all…
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Meldonium: the drug allegedly found in Mykhailo Mudryk’s doping test explained
Tom Bassindale, Sheffield Hallam University First published in The Conversation Chelsea Football Club revealed today that one of their players, Mykhailo Mudryk, has tested positive for a banned substance in a routine drug test. The 23-year-old Ukranian winger said he has not knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs. It has been…
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How do we know if testosterone is ‘non-endogenous’?
Yesterday we discovered that Paul Pogba, the Juventus midfielder was provisionally suspended after drugs test found “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites” in a urine sample. The sample was collected on 20th August after Pogba was an unused substitute in a game in Italy. Pogba can face a ban of four years if…
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Reflections on leading our undergraduate curriculum redevelopment
At the start of academic year 2022-23 the university embarked on an ambitious programme of curriculum redevelopment. This encompassed all of the universities taught provision, categorised in various ways: ‘standard’ undergraduate teaching; taught postgraduate teaching; practise focussed education and apprenticeships. The aim from the University were to simplify course structures…