Doping as technology: a rereading of the history of performance-enhancing substance use in the light of Brian Winston's interpretative model for technological continuity and change

Abstract

This article sets out to make a case for a non-moralistic and non-Manichaean approach to the doping phenomenon, where doping is seen as but one more form of technology applied for the enhancement of performance in sport. Departing from these premises, the article proposes a re-interpretation of the history of doping and anti-doping in the light of the interpretative frame proposed by the media scholar Brian Winston to analyze the processes of technological change and innovation. According to this dialectic model, the evolution of any technological novelty must be understood in the wider social framework where it develops and in particular as the result of the interplay of social accelerators (the social necessities or demands that the technology in question helps to solve) and brakes (the social forces whose status or position may be challenged by the new technologies). It is argued that the main and probably the only social force pushing forward the innovation processes in sport, including doping, derives from the inexorable tension of sport towards hierarchy, performance and victory. Among the social brakes for the development of doping one can add a part of the medical and journalistic professions, the sports governance structure and some national governments. The current state of doping practices and anti-doping policies is the result of the balance of forces in the tension between social brakes and accelerators, which accounts for all the apparent inconsistencies and whims of the current list of prohibited substances and methods.

Technological capability of doping control laboratories: a metric proposal

“…This article is in line with other studies that: (1) consider doping to be a biomedical technology that needs to be analyzed under the lens of innovation theory (López 2012); and (2) advocate the need to redesign antidrug policies in order to overcome the limitations of the sporting spirit tradition (Mazanov and Connor 2010). Our main objective is to present a metric of TC for antidoping labs that could guide their technological strategy, helping them perform a more significant role in redesigning antidrug policy.…”

“…(1) It ignores the fact that technological innovation is a central characteristic of professional sports dynamics (Hatton 2007). (2) Some decisions about which technologies are natural or artificial are arbitrary (López 2012).…”

“…Even though, sports scientists (López 2012, Viret 2016) point to the huge economic and cultural differences between emerging and developed countries, here we assume that doping control laboratories' performance, mainly in emerging countries, will depend on their technological capability (TC). The TC theory builds on the pioneering empirical studies of technological innovation in Latin America and Southeast Asia performed by Dahlman and Westphal (1982) and Katz (1984), among others.…”

Be(coming) clean: Confessions as governance in professional cycling

“…In his discussion of risk, Altheide (2013) argues that the process of shielding certain social risks is frequently accomplished by accounts that 'individualize' the problem, as the result of a 'bad actor', by omitting critical discussion of the problem and by ignoring other potential risks or harms. Similarly, Lopez's (2013) discussion of how mainstream media promoted human growth hormone (HGH) as a dangerous doping drug despite lack of scientific evidence of its harm failing to include critical discussion of the social realities that might make HGH attractive.…”

“…For many, PED use and the skill to avoid detection were not altogether distinct from other forms of performance enhancement including lightweight equipment that required constant innovation and adjustment and no less necessary than assiduous training and proper nutrition (see Lopez (2012) for doping as a product of technological change and innovation). Stefan Schumacher colourfully referred to PED use as 'no different as a plate of pasta after training [sic]' (Bicycling.com 2013).…”