Drugs in sport
Why the China doping scandal has created a crisis of faith and suspicion
It must be traumatic for any athlete to discover, three years on, that they competed at an Olympics against rivals who, very likely, shouldn’t have been there.
- by Darren Kane
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Opinion
Doping
The wait of history: How and why East German medals should be reallocated
The GDR athletes were victims of doping, too. But if just a fraction of the 489 medals they won over nine Games were reallocated, it might be a worthwhile and cathartic exercise.
- by Darren Kane
Opinion
For subscribers
Chinese checkers and the WADA cone of silence
The thing about a cover-up is that there’s nothing to see. It’s the smell that gives it away.
- by Greg Baum
Exclusive
Olympics
Australian swimming coach caught up in China drugs scandal
Veteran Australian swimming coach Denis Cotterell has vehemently rejected claims of systemic doping in Chinese swimming after a drug scandal rocked the sport.
- by Tom Decent
WADA makes drug testing changes after Bol ‘disaster’
Drug testers will alter how they test for the endurance drug EPO after a World Anti-Doping Agency review prompted by Australian Olympian Peter Bol’s case.
- by Michael Gleeson
Five horses from five stables tested positive to a breast cancer drug. No one knows why
The mystery of how traces of a breast cancer drug appeared in urine samples taken from five different thoroughbreds, trained by five different stables and racing at five different tracks, might never be solved.
- by Danny Russell
Opinion
NRL 2024
Football codes need to just say no … to beer
When you look at damage done by drugs to footballers, does cocaine even begin to compare to the damage done by alcohol?
- by Peter FitzSimons
Opinion
For subscribers
AFL and drugs: Beware the crackdown that becomes a crack-up
The AFL must be careful not to throw out the welfare baby with the tough-on-drugs bathwater.
- by Greg Baum
Exclusive
For subscribers
He blew the whistle on the AFL drugs scandal. Here is what Melbourne’s ex-club doctor wants to change
Zeeshan Arain says he documented a disturbingly high prevalence of illicit drug use among players at the Melbourne Football Club and wanted to expose a cultural problem, not blow up the league’s drugs policy.
- by Chip Le Grand
Opinion
Drugs
Drugs aren’t just for tradies and ravers. Middle-aged, middle-class women do them too
All drugs can destroy lives, finances, relationships. But in the spirit of openness, let’s not lie. They’re fun, and therein lies the rub.
- by Kate Halfpenny
AFL chief tells clubs what the new drugs policy will be
AFL boss Andrew Dillon has told a briefing of all 18 clubs that the league will continue with a health-based illicit drugs policy. In practice, this would mean no sanction on the first offence.
- by Jake Niall, Andrew Wu and Chris Barrett