美国国家公共电台 NPR Olympic Athletes Still Use Some Rx Drugs As A Path To 'Legal Doping'

Olympic Athletes Still Use Some Rx Drugs As A Path To 'Legal Doping'

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Athletes competing at the Olympics in Rio have been taking a hard line against their peers who've been accused of doping. But competitors can actually still engage in a form of doping that is legal. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on the practice of taking prescription¹ drugs that may improve performance but haven't been banned yet.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE²: Most people had never heard of a drug called meldonium until tennis champion Maria Sharapova admitted using it in March. That admission is why she won't be competing in Rio. But endurance athletes knew about meldonium. And until the World Anti-Doping Agency banned the drug in January, lots of competitors were taking it.

RONALD EVANS: If it's not banned, athletes will use it.

HAMILTON: That's Ronald Evans of the Salk Institute in San Diego. He's an expert on drugs that affect metabolism³. Evans says meldonium is just one of a group of prescription heart drugs that could help a runner or a swimmer last longer.

EVANS: Those are really thought to improve blood flow. You improve blood flow, you improve more oxygen getting to the muscles that you want. And therefore, it's good for performance.

HAMILTON: Meldonium was around for decades before it got banned. And since the ban, it's been found in samples from about 100 athletes. Meanwhile, competitors can still legally use another prescription heart drug called telmisartan. Evans says this drug also improves blood flow in a way that could give an athlete an advantage.

EVANS: It is not prohibited. And if it's not prohibited, that means you almost have to seriously consider it unless you are so much better than your competitors.

HAMILTON: The World Anti-Doping Agency has been monitoring telmisartan since 2015. But Evans says meldonium and telmisartan are just bit players in the doping world. It's not even clear how effective they are. What athletes really want, he says, is the kind of drug he's been working on for years.

EVANS: A drug that promotes the benefits of fitness without actually training.

HAMILTON: Evans isn't trying to help dopers. He's trying to save the lives of people with health problems like obesity⁴ and diabetes⁵. But he knows that any prescription drug that comes from his work will find its way into competitive sports.

EVANS: I get emails from athletes, coaches, the horse racing⁶ industry (laughter).

HAMILTON: Doping authorities are also interested in new drugs that can alter metabolism. Olivier de Hon is the manager of scientific affairs for the Anti-Doping Authority in the Netherlands.

OLIVIER DE HON: It is true that over the last few years, yeah, there are more and more inventive medicines which might be performance-enhancing as well.

HAMILTON: De Hon says it can take years to assess a potential doping drug. One reason is that it's hard to find information on the performance-enhancing qualities of a substance. De Hon says this was particularly true of meldonium.

DE HON: Most of the scientific literature that's available about meldonium, it's in Russian. And I cannot read that. So I had some problems in making up my mind whether - what we should do with it.

HAMILTON: And de Hon says you are not going to keep athletes from doping simply by banning lots of drugs. It often comes down to the culture of a particular country or a particular sport. De Hon says, take cycling, for example, a sport where doping has been rampant⁷.

DE HON: Within the world of cycling they realized at one point that this is not the sport anymore that they can sell to the public and can sell to the people who pay for them.

HAMILTON: De Hon says doping appears to be less common in cycling these days because the sport has changed, not because there's more testing. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

1 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 metabolism   

n.新陈代谢

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• All living matter undergoes a process of metabolism.生物都有新陈代谢。

4 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

5 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

6 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

7 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。