How Athletes Dope at the Olympics... And Get Away With It.
Inside Science Inside Science
36.3K subscribers
68,140 views
0

 Published On Aug 4, 2016

It's estimated that up to a third of the athletes that we'll watch at the Olympics, will be dopers. And yet less than two percent of athletes were caught last year. So how do you dope and get away with it?

When it comes to endurance, muscles need oxygen; oxygen carried by the blood. EPO and drugs like it, increase maximum blood oxygen by around seven percent. They up the production of red blood cells by the bone marrow. Now EPO can be detected in your urine, unless you microdose!

This is a doping technique that works even mid-competition and it's simple. Take a speck of EPO, one ten-thousandth of a gram before you go to bed, and then drink a liter of water. By the time they can test you in the morning, the drug has broken down in your blood, and the water dilutes your urine, leaving no trace of the EPO.

****************************************************
Inside Science is an editorially independent news service of the American Institute of Physics

Connect with us:
Inside Science Website: https://www.insidescience.org
Facebook:   / insidescience  
Twitter:   / insidescience  
American Institute of Physics Website: https://www.aip.org/

show more

Share/Embed