2021年经济学人 奥运VS药物(6)（在线收听）

Better technology and stricter rules have made egregious doping harder.

更好的技术和更严格的规则已经使恶名昭彰的兴奋剂的使用条件变得更加艰难。

In Tokyo, samples will be analysed by sophisticated chromatography to look for drugs or their metabolites.

在东京，检查人员将通过对样品进行复杂的色谱分析来寻找药物成分或其代谢物。

Biological passports will be scrutinised for indirect evidence of blood doping, which may reveal itself as suspicious changes in any of a dozen variables,

同时还会通过仔细检查生物护照来寻找血液兴奋剂存在的间接证据，血液兴奋剂可能会在十几个变量中的其中一个中显现出可疑的变化，

including levels of haemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying molecule that gives blood its red colour), red-blood-cell count, and the proportion of those cells which are immature.

这些变量包括血红蛋白(使血液呈现红色的载氧分子)的水平、红细胞的数量、以及未成熟细胞的比例。

Outside competitions, "whereabouts" rules mean elite athletes must keep antidoping authorities apprised of their movements, to permit unannounced tests.

除了比赛场上之外，“行踪”规定意味着运动员必须将自己的行踪告知反兴奋剂机构，以便允许进行突击检测。

But record performances are not necessary for victory. Simply being better than your opponents on the day is enough.

但是，打破纪录的表现并不是胜利的必要条件，仅仅比对手更好就足够了。

For that reason, subtler chemical assistance is still worth pursuing.

因此，更不易察觉的化学道具仍值得研究。

One option is to experiment with new drugs.

一种选择是试验新药。

Sometimes, these are created deliberately to dodge the tests.

有时，制造特定的新药来躲避测试。

In 2003 a syringe was posted anonymously to American anti-doping officials.

2003年，美国反兴奋剂官员收到了一位匿名人士寄来的注射器。

It contained a new AAS nicknamed "The Clear", for which no test existed.

该注射器包含一种新的原子吸收光谱(AAS)，又名“透明原子吸收光谱”，

This had been developed by a chemist called Patrick Arnold and supplied to athletes including Marion Jones, an American sprinter with a string of Olympic medals to her name, who admitted using it.

目前还没有针对它的测试。它由一位名叫帕特里克·阿诺德的化学家发明，并提供给了包括马里恩·琼斯在内的运动员。玛丽安·琼斯是一名美国短跑运动员，名下有无数枚奥运奖牌，她承认自己使用过它。

Most new drugs, though, are created by the pharmaceutical industry.

不过，大多数新药都是由制药工业制造的。

Selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) are experimental drugs intended to provide similar benefits to AAS, but with fewer side-effects.

选择性雄激素受体调节剂(SARMs)是一种实验性药物，旨在提供与AAS类似的好处，但副作用更少。

Researchers hope they will help treat muscle-wasting diseases. But SARMs have attracted sporting interest too.

研究人员希望该药物能够帮助治疗肌肉萎缩疾病。但SARMs也吸引了体育界的兴趣。

Oliver Catlin runs the Banned Substances Control Group, an American firm which tests sports supplements for forbidden drugs.

奥利弗·卡特林经营着一家名为“违禁物质控制集团”的美国公司，该公司负责检测运动补充剂是否含有违禁药物。

He points out that although more than a dozen SARMs are in development, tests exist for only a few of them, and only at the most advanced laboratories.

他指出，目前有十几种SARMs正在开发当中，而只有少数几种SARMs能够被测试出来，而且只在最先进的实验室才能进行测试。