Athletes drug test is done to make sure that training is the best way to victory and in a way to detect abuse, but they also get the message that some drugs and other practices can help them to boost their efforts and give them a shortcut, even if they understand they risk their health and their athletic career if they get caught, they go ahead with it..
Athletes are pretty much willing to take any preparation that would improve their performance and fames. It is seen that the usage of drugs has increased since 1960’s. In Seoul Olympics in 1988, sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for anabolic steroids and he was ripped of his gold medal. Athletes might also misuse drugs to relax, in a way to cope with stress or in a way to boost their own confidence.
Athletes would have many reasons for using performance boosting drugs. An athlete might prefer to build the strength of their muscles and bones in away to increase the oxygen delivery to the tissues and to relax themselves and boost up their confidence in a way to hide the usage of other drugs etc, all at their own risks.
The athlete drug test can be done in several ways; however, for most drug testing on athletes the majority of the drugs that are being used by the athletes are detected in samples of urine. An athlete that is told by a drug control officer to submit a urine sample for testing would be giving the sample and the sample will be sent to a laboratory for analysis and the results will be reported back to the governing athletic agency. However, for some substances, blood samples might be required. The basic test is immunoassay using test strips.
Drug test on athletes is confirmed with Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry These tests are done on urine and blood samples. In gas chromatography, when the sample is analyzed, the retention time is reported or plotted to create a chromatogram. In mass spectrometry, samples are blown apart with an electron beam and the fragments are accelerated down a long magnetic tube to a detector. Each substance will have a unique “fingerprint” in the mass spectrometer.
Standard samples are run for detection and quantification of drugs in the urine/blood samples in both the methods.
Although there is too meager statistical proof on how widespread doping is, athletes and coaches stress that most competitors do not take drugs; however, they do not listen to it. Nonetheless, drug testing is becoming an increasingly integral part of sports competitions due to such an air of disobedience. As more and more performance-enhancing drugs are developed drug tests for athletes and the battle to keep sports clean continues.
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