November 10, 2013 – A recent paper has revived an interesting, yet flawed debate regarding the issue of doping in sport, according to an article by South African sports scientist, Ross Tucker, on the Science of Sport website. The debate is an interesting one, especially in light of the recent release of the 2013 WADA Prohibited Substances List, Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s (CCES’s) recent funding boost for its anti-doping efforts, which include a new anti-doping snitch hotline (read more here), and the quickly approaching Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

SkiTrax recently published a CBC Radio interview with legendary cross-country skier and 2002 Olympic gold medalist Beckie Scott, who was only awarded the gold only after lengthy discussions with Olympic authorities when the first- and- second-place Russian skiers tested positive for banned substances. Scott provides some interesting insights about the the CCES’s new measures and new anti-doping snitch hotline (find the interview here).

In the Science of Sport article (read it here), Tucker references a recent head-to-head debate (find it here) and argues against Oxford philosopher Julian Savelescu’s reasoning that doping should be legalized, pointing out his flawed logic, which suggests that anti-doping measures are not working.

In his conclusion, Tucker presents a compromise, which includes a stream-lining of the banned substances list and adjustments to the sanctioning system sanctions which he believes are skewed. Read Tucker’s article here.