Coffee - is it doping in tennis?
Is the world of anti-doping a world of rules but no
rules?
The WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) the ICO (International
Olympic Committee) and other national and international regulatory bodies in the
fight against doping in sports more than once have banned
coffee and placed it in the now "infamous" - Prohibited List - of sports performance
enhancing drugs for the World Anti-Doping Code.
However, in 2004 and to date (2008), WADA again removed caffeine from the list of banned substances. Even
though evidence from scientists around the world collected through the
years, in many cases concluded that coffee is indeed a performance enhancing drug
and a dangerous and unethical violation of the code of fair play in sports, that
should be a banned substance and on the Prohibited list.
The sampling of scientific studies below should give some
perspective on the evidence:
Effects of caffeine ingestion on metabolism and exercise performance. "Following
the ingestion of caffeine (Trial C), the subjects were able to perform an
average of 90.2 (SE +/- 7.2) min of cycling as compared to an average of 75.5
(SE +/- 5.1) min in the D Trial." Costil DL, Dalsky GP, Fink WJ.
- Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 1978
Health and ergogenic effects of caffeine. "The
National Collegiate Athletic Association of the US have adopted bans on the use
of caffeine to aid sport performance. Currently, both of these organizations
prohibit the concentration of caffeine in urine to exceed 15 micrograms-ml-1.
That is to say, only very large amounts of caffeine are not permitted at
present. Jacobson BH, Kulling FA. - British Journal of Sports Medicine. 1989
Caffeine ingestion prior to
prolonged exercise delays fatigue. Graham TE, Rush JW, van Soeren MH. - Can
J Appl Physiol. 1994 Jun
Caffeine and performance. "The
ergogenic effects of caffeine are present with urinary caffeine levels that are
below the limit of 12 micrograms/ml allowed by the International Olympic
Committee, which raises serious ethical issues regarding the use of caffeine to
improve athletic performance. One solution would be to add caffeine to the list
of banned substances, thereby requiring athletes to abstain from caffeine
ingestion 48-72 hr prior to competition." Spriet
LL. - International Journal of Sport Nutrition. 1995
The effect of different dosages
of caffeine on endurance performance time. A
significant increase in endurance performance was found for all caffeine tests
compared to placebo. Pasman WJ, van Baak MA, Jeukendrup AE, de Haan A.
- Int J Sports Med. 1995 May;16
The effect of caffeine
ingestion on 8 km run performance in a field setting.
We conclude that ingestion of 3 mg . kg(-1) body mass of caffeine can improve
absolute 8 km run performance in an ecologically valid race setting.
Bridge CA, - J Sports Sci. 2006
The effects of caffeine
ingestion on performance time,... These results provide support for previous
research that found improved performance after caffeine ingestion during
short-duration high-intensity exercise. The magnitude of the improvements
observed in our study could be due to our use of sport-specific ergometry, a
tablet form and trained participants. Wiles JD, Coleman D, Tegerdine M,
Swaine IL. - J Sports Sci. 2006 Nov The small sampling of scientific studies is just the tip
of the mountain of evidence available to the anti-drug governing bodies, which
begs the question, why is coffee not on the WADA Prohibited list?
The only conclusion I can get to is:
- Greed, greed and more greed (the same type of greed that is
today bringing down the world economy). Because trillions of dollars in
sponsors, advertisement, TV rights and other parallel ventures, are paid to
organizations like, the IOC, FIFA and all other official national and
international sports ruling bodies.
- With trillions of dollars at stake no one really cares
about doping, coffee, amphetamines, diuretics, growth hormones, EPO and so on!
According to this recent report -
Doped But Undetected SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Olympic gold medalist Antonio
Pettigrew admitted publicly for the first time Thursday that he used
performance-enhancing substances during a long, successful sprinting career in
which he passed all drug tests.
So much for all of the anti-doping tests.
So what is really going on? Is anyone in charge of
anti-doping. Yes, money and greed is!
Is it fair for athletes that are clean and do not take drugs? Of course not!
Is coffee in tennis, a form of doping? Oh, yes!
Just make this experiment for adults only!!*
Play one set of tennis against a friend you always played close
matches against. Once the set is over take 2 or 3 stiff cups of coffee,
than play another set against your friend (of course your friend has to drink
water only throughout the match), and please let me know the results of this
un-scientific experiment in the comment area of this article.
Since coffee is legal you might as well cover your coffee needs
at www.coffeesnoop.com
*CAUTION:
This is not for children, elderly, or people on certain medications and medical
conditions. Always consult your healthcare provider before experimenting. Also
read our disclamer policy.
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