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Doping: A Sporting History
A gripping, provocative history of doping in sports—packed with examples—that proposes a new emphasis for modern anti-doping efforts.
Why is doping a perennial problem for sports? Is this solely a contemporary phenomenon? And should doping always be regarded as cheating, or do today’s anti-doping measures go too far?
Drawing on case studies from the early twentieth century to the present day, A Sporting History explores why the current anti-doping system looks as it does, charting its origins to the founding of the modern Olympic Games. From interwar notions of sporting purity to the postwar stimulant crisis, what seemed an easily resolvable problem soon became an impossible challenge as the pharmacology improved, the policy system stuttered, and Cold War politics allowed doping to flourish. The late twentieth century saw the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, but has the intensity of these global measures led to unintended harms?
From the cyclist Tommy Simpson who died in 1967 on Mont Ventoux with amphetamines in his jersey to Team Russia’s expulsion from the 2018 Winter Olympics, A Sporting History is a gripping, provocative account that ultimately proposes a new one for the inclusion and protection of athletes themselves.
Why is doping a perennial problem for sports? Is this solely a contemporary phenomenon? And should doping always be regarded as cheating, or do today’s anti-doping measures go too far?
Drawing on case studies from the early twentieth century to the present day, A Sporting History explores why the current anti-doping system looks as it does, charting its origins to the founding of the modern Olympic Games. From interwar notions of sporting purity to the postwar stimulant crisis, what seemed an easily resolvable problem soon became an impossible challenge as the pharmacology improved, the policy system stuttered, and Cold War politics allowed doping to flourish. The late twentieth century saw the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, but has the intensity of these global measures led to unintended harms?
From the cyclist Tommy Simpson who died in 1967 on Mont Ventoux with amphetamines in his jersey to Team Russia’s expulsion from the 2018 Winter Olympics, A Sporting History is a gripping, provocative account that ultimately proposes a new one for the inclusion and protection of athletes themselves.
- GenresSports
320 pages, Hardcover
Published June 28, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 15, 2025
some salient points but there is definitely a difference between ‘moral panic’ and thinking that turning your blood into treacle with epo is bad for athletes and sport.
July 4, 2022
The use of various types of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in various sports is not a relative new phenomenon. Methods of doing so have been around about has long as the modern Olympic games, which started in 1896. This book by April Henning and Paul Dimeo takes a complete look at this issue from many different angles.
One of the most striking features of the book is that while it is a scholarly work in which they present theories and possible resolutions, the language and format is very easy to follow and a reader will notice that aside from the scientific names of some of the drugs, it is written in plain language. That will help the non-scholarly reader to comprehend and absorb the points the authors are making.
The variety of sports is far-reaching and international. While much of the international competition in which the authors describe are the Olympic Games (both Summer and Winter) there are other international competitions included as well. This is especially true for two sports that internationally have been ripe with drug issues, track and field and cycling. There is an entire chapter devoted to Ben Johnson’s disqualification from the 1988 Olympics, for example.
There is also extensive research and text on the use of PEDs in communist nations during the Cold War era. Most notably, that of East Germany, whose athletes would regularly earn more medals than the United States despite having a significantly smaller population. The stories of their athletes requiring the use of these drugs or else they could not compete were compelling.
Although their work on the use of PEDs was very good, the criticism and suggested solutions of the enforcing agencies, current the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) made the book one that was hard to put down. Just about any critical idea one can think of for these enforcers was included. The determination of what was a PED and the science behind these decisions was questioned at times. This included things like banning cold medicines that were taken for illness but resulted in an athlete’s disqualification because it contained trace amounts of a banned substance. The lack of communication of what these banned substances would be and what products would contain them was criticized by the authors, as were the punishments as individual athletes would suffer from draconian measures. These included bans from competition or awards taken away while larger organizations and nations would either receive light warnings or even nothing at all. The authors then conclude the book on their suggestions on how to right this matter, striking a balance between fair enforcement and keeping the competition fair for all.
From the first Olympic games to the 2016 scandal that plagued the team from Russian, this book is a wonderful and complete look at the use of various drugs and other scientific advancements to improve the performance of various athletes. No matter one’s sports interest or interest in this topic, it is a book that is well worth the time to read.
I wish to thank Reaktion Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
One of the most striking features of the book is that while it is a scholarly work in which they present theories and possible resolutions, the language and format is very easy to follow and a reader will notice that aside from the scientific names of some of the drugs, it is written in plain language. That will help the non-scholarly reader to comprehend and absorb the points the authors are making.
The variety of sports is far-reaching and international. While much of the international competition in which the authors describe are the Olympic Games (both Summer and Winter) there are other international competitions included as well. This is especially true for two sports that internationally have been ripe with drug issues, track and field and cycling. There is an entire chapter devoted to Ben Johnson’s disqualification from the 1988 Olympics, for example.
There is also extensive research and text on the use of PEDs in communist nations during the Cold War era. Most notably, that of East Germany, whose athletes would regularly earn more medals than the United States despite having a significantly smaller population. The stories of their athletes requiring the use of these drugs or else they could not compete were compelling.
Although their work on the use of PEDs was very good, the criticism and suggested solutions of the enforcing agencies, current the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) made the book one that was hard to put down. Just about any critical idea one can think of for these enforcers was included. The determination of what was a PED and the science behind these decisions was questioned at times. This included things like banning cold medicines that were taken for illness but resulted in an athlete’s disqualification because it contained trace amounts of a banned substance. The lack of communication of what these banned substances would be and what products would contain them was criticized by the authors, as were the punishments as individual athletes would suffer from draconian measures. These included bans from competition or awards taken away while larger organizations and nations would either receive light warnings or even nothing at all. The authors then conclude the book on their suggestions on how to right this matter, striking a balance between fair enforcement and keeping the competition fair for all.
From the first Olympic games to the 2016 scandal that plagued the team from Russian, this book is a wonderful and complete look at the use of various drugs and other scientific advancements to improve the performance of various athletes. No matter one’s sports interest or interest in this topic, it is a book that is well worth the time to read.
I wish to thank Reaktion Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
August 29, 2023
The question of performance enhancing substances (PES) is one that exercises commentators, policy makers, managers and more in contemporary sport. It fits the classic sociological criteria of being a moral panic, and evokes all manner of outrage and sense of crisis. Yet, there are those who argue that use of these substances is inherent in the logic of performance sport; Paul Dimeo – one of the authors of this book – makes that case powerfully and compellingly in his excellent 2007 book
A History of Drug Use in Sport: 1876 - 1976: Beyond Good and Evil
, noting that a major issue is which forms of performance enhancement (here including equipment) are considered legal and which are not. This approach is similarly woven through this excellent introduction to and exploration of these issues by Dimeo and his University of Stirling colleague April Henning.
The book itself it principally a synthesis drawing on existing scholarly literature, although with three significant aspects. First, these are two experts in the field weaving together a huge body of research, navigating and negotiating a way through it to trace the primary contours of the development of PES use and responses or lack of responses from sport’s governors. Second, they are adept at translating much of the frankly obfuscating language of scholarship into clear and accessible writing for general audiences. Third, and for those if in the academic world this is possibly the most notable, there is a clear and specific outline of the key components of what Henning and Dimeo call a harm reduction approach rather than the current policing model that presumes strict liability (all athletes are held liable for any substance they use, no matter the circumstances), and excessive surveillance. This approach taps into a key critique they raise throughout the text – that anti-doping approaches were developed without any consultation or consideration of athlete views.
One of the real strengths of the book is clarity, in a field dominated by a messy combination of medical and legalistic language. Part of the challenge of trying to keep informed about the issues is the plethora of names attached to various substances – carrying both generic and brand names; Henning and Dimeo keep it simple, as much as possible sticking to one generic and reminding us at key points what they are dealing with. There is a tendency also to focus on the class of substance, rather than specific drugs, in keeping with the high level overview. Similarly, they manage clear discussions of effects of various substances – effects that are often unclear and contested in the scientific literature. They adopt a similar approach to the policy and legal contexts, focusing on principles and effects.
The text itself is well balanced, weaving together the big picture with personal and individual cases – usually focusing either on key cases in the development of the issues, including key transition moments between the various phases of approaches to the use of PES, or emphasising absurdities, over-reach, and cases of injustice. This approach keeps the book engaging, so we see the big picture, the broad sweep of policy and practice approaches, alongside the personal stories. There are plenty of injustices in the current approach to dealing with doping – where an athlete in a state sponsored programme such as East Germany’s where there was no choice and athletes were not informed of what they were taking, someone such as Lance Armstrong who knowingly engaged in industrial level doping and lied about it, someone who has non-enhancing trace amounts of a banned substance from using something such as lip balm, and an amateur athlete acting with no informed advice are all treated the same. The cases here, that there is little that is just or proportionate about the current anti-doping system is compelling and convincing.
Henning and Dimeo have given a sharp, incisive, demystification of much of the overblown rhetoric and moral panic around doping, showing how it is framed in a language that makes it an insoluble problem. They have built on Dimeo’s and others’ previous analyses about the consistency of doping with the logic of performance sport, building that view into their proposed policy response. And they do it in a way that is clear, accessible, engaging, and lucid, making that an essential contribution to public debates about and awareness of a key issue in contemporary sport. The established bureaucracies and approaches will be hard to unseat, but this gives me hope that we might see a shift in the way we think and talk about PES use and its effects.
Highly recommended.
The book itself it principally a synthesis drawing on existing scholarly literature, although with three significant aspects. First, these are two experts in the field weaving together a huge body of research, navigating and negotiating a way through it to trace the primary contours of the development of PES use and responses or lack of responses from sport’s governors. Second, they are adept at translating much of the frankly obfuscating language of scholarship into clear and accessible writing for general audiences. Third, and for those if in the academic world this is possibly the most notable, there is a clear and specific outline of the key components of what Henning and Dimeo call a harm reduction approach rather than the current policing model that presumes strict liability (all athletes are held liable for any substance they use, no matter the circumstances), and excessive surveillance. This approach taps into a key critique they raise throughout the text – that anti-doping approaches were developed without any consultation or consideration of athlete views.
One of the real strengths of the book is clarity, in a field dominated by a messy combination of medical and legalistic language. Part of the challenge of trying to keep informed about the issues is the plethora of names attached to various substances – carrying both generic and brand names; Henning and Dimeo keep it simple, as much as possible sticking to one generic and reminding us at key points what they are dealing with. There is a tendency also to focus on the class of substance, rather than specific drugs, in keeping with the high level overview. Similarly, they manage clear discussions of effects of various substances – effects that are often unclear and contested in the scientific literature. They adopt a similar approach to the policy and legal contexts, focusing on principles and effects.
The text itself is well balanced, weaving together the big picture with personal and individual cases – usually focusing either on key cases in the development of the issues, including key transition moments between the various phases of approaches to the use of PES, or emphasising absurdities, over-reach, and cases of injustice. This approach keeps the book engaging, so we see the big picture, the broad sweep of policy and practice approaches, alongside the personal stories. There are plenty of injustices in the current approach to dealing with doping – where an athlete in a state sponsored programme such as East Germany’s where there was no choice and athletes were not informed of what they were taking, someone such as Lance Armstrong who knowingly engaged in industrial level doping and lied about it, someone who has non-enhancing trace amounts of a banned substance from using something such as lip balm, and an amateur athlete acting with no informed advice are all treated the same. The cases here, that there is little that is just or proportionate about the current anti-doping system is compelling and convincing.
Henning and Dimeo have given a sharp, incisive, demystification of much of the overblown rhetoric and moral panic around doping, showing how it is framed in a language that makes it an insoluble problem. They have built on Dimeo’s and others’ previous analyses about the consistency of doping with the logic of performance sport, building that view into their proposed policy response. And they do it in a way that is clear, accessible, engaging, and lucid, making that an essential contribution to public debates about and awareness of a key issue in contemporary sport. The established bureaucracies and approaches will be hard to unseat, but this gives me hope that we might see a shift in the way we think and talk about PES use and its effects.
Highly recommended.
March 29, 2026
Fresh take on professional sports: athletes aren’t intrinsically evil.
This was an excellent read for anyone who’s played sport at any level. Current Olympic athletes are guilty until proven innocent, and WADA is willing to violate basic human rights of decency in its pursuit of a false idea of fairness. They and their ilk are the ones that should be banned from sport.
This was an excellent read for anyone who’s played sport at any level. Current Olympic athletes are guilty until proven innocent, and WADA is willing to violate basic human rights of decency in its pursuit of a false idea of fairness. They and their ilk are the ones that should be banned from sport.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews