How to stop doping in sports

PROFESSIONAL athletes pay a high price for their pursuit of excellence and glory. Training to the limit tears muscles and wears out joints. Gymnasts often need hip replacements when barely into middle age. Few footballers make it to the end of their careers with their knees intact.

职业运动员为追求卓越和荣誉付出了高昂的代价。训练到撕裂肌肉极限和关节磨损。体操运动员在进入中年后通常需要做髋关节置换手术。很少有球员能在职业生涯的最后时刻还能保持双膝完整。

But many also run a darker risk: doping. The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, in South Korea, starts this week in its shadow. Years after whistle-blowers first revealed wholesale doping in Russia, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at last decided to bar it from taking part. But it has allowed many Russians to compete as individuals. And on the eve of the competition the Court of Arbitration for Sport said that 28 others should receive a more lenient penalty from the IOC, further muffling the anti-doping message.

但许多人也冒着更大的风险:服用兴奋剂。于本周开始的韩国平昌冬奥会蒙上一层阴影。在距举报人首次披露俄罗斯的大规模兴奋剂丑闻的数年后，国际奥委会终于决定禁止其参与。但它允许许多俄罗斯人作为个人参与竞争。在比赛的前夕，体育仲裁法庭说，其他28人应该得到国际奥委会的更宽大的处罚，这进一步削弱了反兴奋剂的信息。

Russia’s doping is unusual only in its scale and institutional nature. No country or sport is immune. Studies, and an anonymous survey at the World Athletics Championships in 2011, suggest that a third of athletes preparing for big international competitions take banned substances. Yet just 1-2% fail a test each year. Lance Armstrong, a cyclist who won the Tour de France seven times and later admitted to doping all the while, was tested on 250 occasions. The few times he failed, he avoided sanctions by claiming he had taken anti-inflammatories for saddle-sores.

俄罗斯的兴奋剂使用只是在规模和体制上是不寻常的，没有国家或体育项目对兴奋剂有免疫性。2011年世界田径锦标赛的一项匿名调查显示，三分之一准备参加大型国际比赛的运动员服用违禁药物。然而，每年只有1-2%的人不及格。阿姆斯特朗曾七次获得环法自行车赛冠军，后来承认一直服用禁药，并在250次比赛中接受了测试。在他没通过的几次中，他声称自己因肌肉酸痛服用了抗炎药，以避免受到制裁。

Doping is more sophisticated than when communist states used steroids to bulk up athletes. New drugs are designed to be undetectable in a blood or urine sample. Many athletes “blood dope”, receiving transfusions or taking a drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells to improve their stamina. Russian cheats “lost” test records in state-run labs and opened “tamper-proof” sample bottles with dental instruments.

兴奋剂的使用比社会主义国家使用类固醇来强健运动员要复杂得多。新药物在血液或尿液样本中检测不到。许多运动员都“嗜血”，接受输血或服用刺激红细胞产生的药物以提高他们的耐力。俄罗斯服用兴奋剂的欺骗者在国营实验室“丢失”了测试记录，还打开了牙科器械的“防篡改”的样品瓶。

Athletes who take banned substances put their health at risk. Soviet athletes who were fed steroids suffered a host of serious problems in later life. They were more likely to commit suicide, or to miscarry or have a disabled child. No one knows what risks those taking new “designer” versions are running. Blood-doping can cause heart attacks; more than a dozen cyclists’ deaths have been linked to it. Some unscrupulous coaches dope promising teenagers, before they are ever subjected to testing. The performance-enhancing benefits will last into their future careers. So will the damage.

服用违禁药物的运动员将他们的健康置于危险之中。在后来的生活中，服用类固醇的苏联运动员遭受了一系列严重的问题。他们更有可能自杀，或者流产或者有一个残疾的孩子。没有人知道那些采用新设计版本兴奋剂的人会面临什么样的风险。血液兴奋剂可能导致心脏病发作;超过10名骑行者的死亡与此有关。一些不择手段的教练在很有希望的青少年运动员还没有接受测试之前，给他们使用兴奋剂。这种迅速提高成绩带来的好处将会持续到他们未来的职业生涯中，损害也是。

The agencies that set out to stop doping are hugely outclassed. As the backtracking and bickering over sanctions on Russia illustrate, they are divided and weak. Most testing is done by national bodies, which may not try very hard to find evidence that would get their own stars banned. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which oversees them, is packed with officials from national sports federations and the IOC. Their interests are likewise conflicted. Its budget is tiny. The system seems to be designed to look tough but punish only the occasional scapegoat. Honest athletes deserve better.

那些开始停止使用兴奋剂的机构被远远的超越了。对俄罗斯制裁的回溯和争论表明，他们是分裂的、软弱的。大多数测试都是由国家机构进行的，他们可能不太努力去寻找可能使他们自己的体育明星被禁赛的证据。世界反兴奋剂组织负责监督他们的工作，这其中包括国家体育联合会和国际奥委会的官员。他们的利益也是矛盾的，他们的预算很少。这个制度似乎是为了看起来强硬，但只惩罚偶尔的替罪羊。诚实的运动员应该得到更好的。

Don’t throw in the towel

Fixing doping means fixing incentives. WADA needs money, and to be independent of the sports officials who currently call the shots. Then it could improve testing and carry out more investigations—Russian doping was proved after whistle-blowers raised the alarm. “Athlete biological passports”, which monitor a range of markers in blood, show promise.

解决兴奋剂问题意味着要制定激励措施。世界反兴奋剂组织需要钱，而且要独立于目前发号施令的体育官员。然后，它可以改进测试，并进行更多的调查——俄罗斯的兴奋剂事件就是在举报人举报后被证实的。可以监测血液中的一系列标记物的“运动员生物护照”可以给出保障。

Above all, the punishment for doping should be severe and certain. No Russians should be competing in Pyeongchang after their country is known to have attempted wholesale fraud. Athletes should not have to choose between risking their health or being beaten by a cheat.

最重要的是，对兴奋剂的惩罚应该是严厉且明确的。在俄罗斯被发现大规模欺诈后，应该禁止俄罗斯参加平昌竞赛。运动员不应该在健康风险和被欺骗两者中做出选择。

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Dope on the slopes"