Brief History of Anti-Doping

The fight against doping in sport as we know it today commenced by the creation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission in 1961 following the death of a Danish cyclist during the Rome Olympic Games the year before. After a slow start, the fight got under way as from the early 1970s under the leadership of the IOC and of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Despite a lack of understanding and weak support even from the sports community, a series of measures were taken during the 1970s and 1980s which still form cornerstones of today's anti-doping strategy. In addition to information and education campaigns, the most important examples are the introduction of procedural rules for doping controls, the establishment and follow-up of a list of prohibited substances and methods, the accreditation of doping control laboratories, the introduction of in- and out-of-competition testing, rules for therapeutic use exemption, and the introduction of blood sampling. During the 1990s, the anti-doping fight gained increasing support both inside and outside the sport community. In order to harmonize the wide variety of rules that had developed both in sport organizations and at the domestic level and to promote anti-doping activities, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was jointly created by the Olympic movement and the public authorities in 1999. WADA is today carrying on the fight supported by the universally accepted WADA Code and an International Anti-Doping Convention under UNESCO.