ABSTRACT
Over many years, social scientists have documented the network of relationships involved in drug use in professional cycling and have effectively demonstrated that any attempt to understand the drug user as an isolated individual is misleading and unhelpful. However, this research has had little impact on anti-doping policy, which continues to reflect the individualism characteristic of modern western societies. This individualism is clearly seen in the emphasis on biological testing as the basis of anti-doping policy. Biological testing can tell us nothing about what is going on outside, as opposed to inside, the athlete’s body and can therefore do nothing to identify the other people involved in ‘doping networks’. The paper draws upon the work of Moston and Engelberg to suggest that investigations based on forensic interviewing are a more effective and less costly way of identifying those involved in the use of drugs in sport. The case of Lance Armstrong, which rested not on biological testing but on forensic interviewing, is used to illustrate the advantages of this approach. It is noted that recent changes to the WADA Code appear to recognise the advantages of this approach but doubts are raised as to whether WADA can kick its own addiction to biological testing.
