Dope: The Book

Latest Updates

Cover art for Dope: A History of Performance EnhancementWhen I wrote Dope: A History of Performance Enhancement in Sports from the Nineteenth Century to Today it became clear to me that although I wanted to include an Afterword that would bring such stories as the Floyd Landis case up to date, the many doping stories that are occurring are moving at such a rapid pace that a printed version of the Afterword would be out of date before the book came out. So, instead, I decided to make the Afterword a download from this web site. The latest version of the Afterword covers the following stories:

  • The Mitchell Report’s fallout, including Roger Clemens vs. Brian McNamee
  • The “Rock”y start to the professional cycling season
  • The Sport of Kings lumbers towards banning steroids
  • Marion Jones goes to jail, while her former teammates fight to keep their medals
  • The Karolinska Institute’s study regarding T/E tests
  • WADA’s new human growth hormone test
  • Tammy Thomas’ perjury conviction
  • Barry Bonds’ ongoing saga
  • Eleven Greek weightlifters test positive for steroids
  • The “Un-Dirty” Dozen
  • Michelle Collins’ suspension lifted early
  • WADA drops LaTasha Jenkins case
  • The Speedo LZR — technological doping?
  • Biological passports, the beginning
  • Skier settles lawsuit with supplement maker
  • Baseball’s anonymous tests that weren’t
  • The Trevor Graham trial — A federal judge refused to throw out verdict, USADA issued life ban
  • Jeff Adams vindicated
  • Floyd Landis, loses CAS decision and assessed a $100,000 penalty by the arbitration panel
  • Drug testing to begin for pro golfers
  • Justin Gatlin’s fails to convince a court to reduce his suspension
  • Kazuki Ganaha and the vitamin B1 “doping” affair
  • David Jacobs
  • Big Brown goes off the juice
  • Tom Boonen’s coke woes
  • WADA’s third gene doping symposium
  • ACE joins forces with Anti-Doping Science Institute, and then folds in October 2008
  • HGH – Is it all in the mind?
  • Terry Bradshaw: But they weren’t “those” kinds of steroids
  • Michael Rasmussen’s suspension and his lawsuit against Rabobank, his former employers
  • Dwain Chambers’ efforts to overturn the British Olympic Association’s rule that provides a lifetime ban preventing any athlete convicted of a doping offense from representing Britain at the Olympics, even after that athlete’s doping suspension has ended — Chambers lost his bid to compete in Beijing, but he still holds out hope for the 2012 Olympics in London
  • Morgan Hamm’s positive test for a banned anti-inflammatory medication. Hamm got a public warning, rather than a two-year suspension, after providing USADA with medical documentation showing that his use of the medication was for a legitimate medical condition.
  • The 2008 Tour de France, which saw three riders (Manuel Beltrán and Moisès Dueñas Navado of Spain, and Riccardo Riccò of Italy) ejected from the race after their A sample tests came up positive for a new generation of EPO. On the last day, Dimitry Fofonov of Kazakhstan was disqualified after testing positive for the banned stimulant heptaminol. French rider Jimmy Caspar, also tested positive. Due to a paperwork snafu, Caspar tested positive for a banned asthma medication. While he has a TUE for one asthma medication, the drug found in his system was different than the one listed on his TUE.
  • After the Tour de France, Bernhard Kohl, Leonardo Piepoli and Stefan Schumacher were said to test positive for the use of CERA. Their stories have both been added to the section on positive test results from the Tour.
  • A number of athletes tested positive both during the final days leading up to the Beijing Olympics and during the Olympic Games. Of the sixteen doping cases to emerge from the Beijing Games, 11 involved humans and 5 involved the doping of horses.
  • Lance Armstrong returns to the sport of cycling. While this is not a doping story, Armstrong has long been dogged by rumors of doping. Armstrong’s return to the sport is designed to raise cancer awareness, and at least in part to show that he races clean.
  • Scott MacLeod, a rugby player who faced doping charges twice in 2008 and was cleared both times. The second time, he tested positive for testosterone. Because he’d been out drinking the night before that test, and because alcohol is said to have an effect on test results, UK Sport ultimately decided to drop the case against MacLeod.
  • Tim Montgomery admits to doping in his preparations for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
  • Floyd Landis filed suit against USADA to vacate the CAS judgment against him, including the $100,000 fees levied by the panel. The case was dropped in early December 2008, with neither side releasing any details about the terms under which the case was dismissed. Landis will be free to compete again on January 30th.

The Afterword will be updated as new developments in current stories occur, and as new stories appear. Check back here from time to time for a list of the latest updates, which will appear in red text in the list above. I hope you enjoy the book.