Chapter 447: Unfair Competition

A lot of people misunderstand and think that performance-enhancing drugs are only temporary. That using it before the competition would only yield a short-term boost.

In truth, as technology advanced, performance-enhancing drugs were more like a drug one consumed to fight against chronic diseases. Athletes had to use it every day, and since the daily intake amount was very small, the body would quickly absorb it through metabolism.

Performance-enhancing drugs were also no longer used during the competition or match period. The effects built up during the entire process, from training to competition. For example, using performance-enhancing drugs before training would help reduce the fatigue during training, allowing the training to last longer and improving the effects of the training. As the effects of the training improved daily, through months of accumulation, the personal ability of the athlete would naturally improve drastically.

It was just like losing weight; as long as one lost a little weight daily, after a long time of accumulation, a lot of weight would have been cut.

In the beginning, when the International Olympic Committee started going against performance-enhancing drugs, they were divided into four primary categories, but as technology advanced, different kinds of drugs were developed. When Dai Li agreed to train Alexander, there was a total of seven categories.

The earliest type of performance-enhancing drug was the stimulant. This type of drug stimulates the central nervous system or the muscles to improve the performance of the athlete. Things like caffeine, amphetamine, and ephedrine were all categorized as stimulants.

This type of performance-enhancing drug fundamentally has a half-life lifecycle. As long as it remains within its half-life period, it can be easily detected using a test strip. With amphetamine as an example, its half-life was between two and 24 hours. The fluctuation of the time period is because the metabolic rate of each individual is different and the variations in dosage.

In the last century, athletes in China used to employ methods such as eating watermelon or drinking a lot of water to facilitate urination and increase metabolism to remove the drugs from their bodies to avoid being detected after using this type of performance-enhancing drug. During those times, a lot of watermelon farmers delivered watermelon to sports teams specifically. A larger sports team solved a lot of livelihood problems for a lot of farmers.

However, as technology advanced, these stimulants were becoming easier to detect. Thus, stimulants became the lowest-level performance-enhancing drug. Now, no high-level athlete would be dumb enough to use stimulants.

The second type of performance-enhancing drug were the Anesthesia and Analgesia, like morphine, heroin, cocaine, etc. These were already considered drugs, and even normal people had to stay away from them, not to mention athletes. Besides, there was no legitimate way of purchasing these things, so no athlete would use them.

The third kind of performance-enhancing drugs were the diuretics. The diuretics don’t really stimulate the central nervous system or the musculature of the human body; at most, they only enhance the rate that the body excretes water, reducing weight as a result. But using diuretics increases metabolism and reduces the metabolite residue left behind by other performance-enhancing drugs, helping athletes avoid detection as a result. As such, the diuretics were always used in coordination with other performance-enhancing drugs.

The fourth kind were the beta blockers. They could selectively integrate with the beta adrenal gland, and stimulate the body. More than a decade ago, the beta blockers were rarely used in sports, but more and more athletes began using them later as the beta blockers could treat high blood pressure and arrhythmia. An athlete only had to produce a diagnostic report that stated that the athlete had heart problems to be able to apply for the approved use of drugs with beta-blockers with the International Olympic Committee.

The fifth kind was the endogenous peptide hormone, such as the human growth hormone, insulin, erythropoietin, androgen, etc. These were all hormones produced by the human body. Since the body originally had them, if the dosage wasn’t high, it was impossible to detect. But if the dosage was too low, then these hormones wouldn’t produce the desired stimulation effect. So the dosage for this sort of drug had to be high, which made it easier to detect.

The sixth type of performance-enhancing drug was blood stimulants. It was also known as blood doping. It was conducted by transfusing blood to the athlete, thus increasing the ability of the blood cells to carry oxygen. In the eighties and nineties of the previous century, there was a golden age of sprinting and new world records for sprints were being set continually. The number of exceptional sprinters kept increasing, and many of the athletes back then used precisely this technique.

The seventh kind of performance-enhancing drug were the synthesized steroids. It was the most varied and widely used performance-enhancing drug. It was also the most technologically advanced, as well as the hardest to detect. Athletes who used this type of performance-enhancing drug were nine times out of ten from countries with highly developed biotechnology, such as the US, Great Britain, Australia, etc. Countries with weaker technologies didn’t even have the research capability to develop such high-level performance-enhancing drugs.

This was the type of performance-enhancing drug that Justin Alexander had used.

…

“Is what you are saying true? You mean to say those reputable track and field coaches are actually using performance-enhancing drugs on their athletes?” Dai Li asked with a bemused expression.

“Is that odd? Not just the United States, but a lot of countries in the world are like this,” Blake said with a calm face.

“Of course it is odd. I’ve been a track and field coach before, and I was even in the national team of China. At least back then, I never found any coach using performance-enhancing drugs,” Dai Li said.

Blake smiled. “I think it might be the gap in technology standards. The technological standard of the US is top notch globally, and when it comes to pharmaceutical research, a lot of technology companies and research laboratories in the US like to play on the edge. Even more, they prefer to utilize their technological advantage as a sort of time gap.”

“Take a biological lab for example. Their technology is more advanced than that of the Anti-Doping Committee, so they can use this lead to continuously provide new products to the athletes. And as the Anti-Doping Committee lags behind in technology, they are unable to detect the new performance-enhancing drugs.”

The underlying meaning behind Blake’s words was that the technological level of China was too low, so they didn’t have the research strength to develop pharmaceuticals that couldn’t be detected by the Anti-Doping Committee.

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“Perhaps there is also another reason,” Dai Li suggested. “Our country’s coaches are supported by the government; they are considered civil servants, and they have stable jobs, stable incomes, and stable welfares. Even if the results of an athlete aren’t good, they don’t have to worry about losing their jobs. At most, they receive a lower bonus, and their career advancement opportunities diminish. Although it can’t completely remove the usage of performance-enhancing drugs, the number of people willing to take risks is relatively lower.”

“Yeah. Using performance-enhancing drugs has its risks. The detection skills of the Anti-Doping Committee continue to advance, and every technological breakthrough enables them to detect a large number of performance-enhancing drugs and increase the number of athletes suspected of using these drugs. It also forces the research labs to continue developing new products. Four years ago when Justin Alexander was found to be using performance-enhancing drugs, it was precisely when the Anti-Doping Committee had a technological breakthrough. The Anti-Doping Committee suddenly improved upon their THG detection technique. Alexander clearly did not notice and continued using THG. The end result was him stepping on a landmine.”

“It’s like a game of tag. As the saying goes, while the priest climbs a post, the devil climbs ten.” Dai Li sighed, but he suddenly thought of another problem.

“Oh yeah. What about the review of the B sample? The B sample has to be stored for at least eight years. With the speed of technological advancement being what it is, it doesn’t matter if it’s the most advanced biological laboratory. When faced with the Anti-Doping Committee, there’s no way for anyone to have an eight-year technological advantage,” Dai Li asked.

The urine samples of athletes in international competitions had to be separated into A and B samples. The A sample was used for immediate testing whereas the B sample was stored. An athlete might not be found to be using any performance-enhancing drugs, but after several years, as the Anti-Doping committee improved their detection techniques, it was possible to detect residue of the performance-enhancing drugs in the B sample.

“Eight years is too long. For an athlete, that might be the entirety of his professional career. Athletes use performance-enhancing drugs at the peak of their careers, and make millions. That would be enough to last an athlete the rest of his life. Even if the Anti-Doping Committee were to discover it at a later time, it would still be worth it. Moreover, it is ‘if’ it was detected. Sometimes, they are unable to make the detection,” Blake explained.

The professional career of an athlete was short. After eight years, the athlete might have already retired or be nearing retirement. The athlete would have obtained both fame and fortune by then, earning what could be earned, and being found out to be using performance-enhancing drugs might only take away the glory from before. To the athlete, there wasn’t any real material loss. An athlete could sincerely apologize and express his desire to change, and use the rest of his earned money to live a luxurious life.

Blake then continued, “Apart from this, athletes also have legal methods of drug use, which help them avoid getting caught with many types of the performance-enhancing drugs.”

“You are talking about immunity for using drugs on treatment, right?” Dai Li asked.

“Yes. When Alexander first got caught using a stimulant, didn’t he argue that he was using it to treat his ADHD? Of course, a lot of athletes really do use drugs to treat diseases; for example, it is widely known that swimming is effective in treating asthma, so a lot of people practice swimming to treat asthma and end up becoming athletes. However, the drugs used to treat asthma contain compounds found in performance enhancers, so a lot of swimmers have to apply for immunity for using drugs for treatment.”

Blake paused a moment and continued, “There are also a lot of athletes who capitalize on the loophole provided by the drug use immunity, using disease treatment as an excuse to continue using performance enhancers. The exact number of people doing this, I don’t know. But I can give you a statistic; the number of athletes applying for drug use immunity in the US last year was around 700, and the number of athletes who went to the Olympic Games last year was only approximately 500 people. You can make the comparison. Among those who go overseas for international competitions, more than 70% of them would apply for drug use immunity from the International Olympic Committee.”

“That many?” Dai Li was surprised.

The US is the world’s number one when it comes to sports, and American athletes are also among the best in the world. The athletes who could make it through the trials and appear on the international stage were without a doubt the best of the best. Among them, many were world-class athletes.

If one were to say that each of these high-level athletes had a disease, it was still normal, but to say that over 70% of them were sick enough to require pharmaceutical intervention, it was obviously impossible. How could it be possible that these super sick athletes were much stronger than normal athletes? It was biologically implausible.

Or perhaps the body condition of the average American citizen was terrible, and super sick people was the norm, so the athletes who appeared in trial competitions or races were all sickly individuals. But how could this explain the fact that the US was the world’s number one country in sports? If the citizens of the world’s number one country in sports are all so sickly, why were they still into sports?

The only answer was that they were manipulating the rules so that they could legitimately administer performance-enhancing drugs.

However many people would help justify the actions of American athletes online, stating that they really were trying to treat their diseases. But if one were to really analyze the situation, it would be simple to get an answer. If every single one those exceptional athletes had a disease, and they needed to administer drugs for treatment, then what made them world-class? Did they really think that American athletes were practicing the “Sunflower Bible,” where self-castration would make one invincible?

Blake then continued, “Of course, not all 700 of these people get approval; about one-third of the applicants don’t get the drug use immunity. However, one thing I am certain of is that track and field athletes are the ones who possess the most immunity.”

Dai Li took in a deep breath and said, “You mean to say most track and field athletes are actually using performance-enhancing drugs?”

“And it’s through any means necessary,” Blake added. “I’m saying all this in the hope that you can understand. What’s in front of you is unfair competition. I know that you have a high training standard and great ability in track and field training, but the levels of the other coaches aren’t bad as well, not to mention your opponents are extremely likely to be using performance-enhancing drugs.”

“You think that I can’t best these ‘Pharmaceutical Coaches’?” Dai Li asked.

“It’s difficult. To tell you the truth, I really don’t favor your chances.” Blake shook his head. “Before his suspension, Alexander was touted ‘the second fastest man in the world,’ second only to Kittel. His comeback will definitely garner attention. If the result of his comeback is terrible, there will definitely be a lot of questioning voices, which will affect the reputation of our training center, as well as your personal reputation.”

As Blake finished his sentence, he glanced towards Dai Li, but he only found Dai Li smiling with confidence. Both his eyes showed that he was ready for battle; it was as if victory was almost in hand.

Unfair competition huh? The other coaches have performance-enhancing drugs, while I have the bonuses from the system. To them, it sure is unfair! Dai Li thought.