ABSTRACT
Anti-doping research is based on a series of assumptions that are invariably challenged (sometimes blatantly ridiculed) by other researchers. For example, an archival study by Hermann and Henneberg (2013) compared the performances of 100m sprinters known to have doped, relative to a group who had not been identified as doping. The latter group were, in effect, a control group. It was concluded that the doping group wasn’t noticeably faster, and so the efficacy of doping was questioned. This was clearly quite a significant claim, one that challenges the core notion that doping improves sporting performances. For example, in a famous early article on doping in US baseball (Verducci, 2002), player Kenny Rogers had said:
Basically, steroids can jump you a level or two. The average player can become a star, and the star player can become a superstar, and the superstar? Forget it. He can do things we’ve never seen before. You take a guy who already has great hand-eye coordination and make him stronger, and without a doubt he’ll be better.
