Doping in sports refers to using a drug, substance, or even technique that directly enhances an athlete's sporting performance, providing them with an unfair competitive advantage. Doping is prohibited in professional and elite sports and could lead to an athlete, an entire team, or athlete support personnel being sanctioned.

Since 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has introduced a code and list of prohibited substances that every athlete worldwide must comply with. This code contains basic anti-doping rules and a list of substances that, if found consumed by the athlete, whether purposefully or not, could lead to a doping violation and an athlete sanction. The Prohibited Substance code is updated yearly, and it is the responsibility of all athletes and athlete support personnel to be familiar with it and any changes.

Every country is governed by a national program. Qatar Anti-Doping Commission (QADC) is the legal body managing and providing education and oversight regarding anti-doping in Qatar. Its main mission is to raise public awareness against doping, and it is the governing body for testing athletes and managing its results and any possible violations.

Doping can increase risk to an athlete's health. Specifically, that it could cause long-lasting harm to an individual's cardiovascular, cognitive, respiratory, or hormonal functions. It is important to understand that doping can happen intentionally or unintentionally from sports supplementation, food, and other medical related practices.
 

Types of Doping Violations

Other than the risks of sports supplements, the following can also be considered doping and could result in a violation of the WADA code.

• Intentional ingestion of banned substances such as recreational drugs (e.g., cocaine), stimulants (ephedrine, pseudoephedrine), anabolic steroids (testosterone, nandrolone), peptide hormones (insulin, growth hormones, erythropoietin), diuretics, alcohol, beta-blockers, beta-2 agonists, and anti-estrogens.
• Food contamination with doping substances or hormones may occur through agricultural and farming practices with banned substances, such as contamination of meat or liver products with clenbuterol. These risks are usually limited to specific geographical locations and can include but are not exclusive to South America.
• Banned practices such as gene manipulation and/or blood doping.

In all cases, the athlete must communicate closely with the supporting medical team to determine which medications/treatments are safe and permitted for use and which foods to avoid, especially while traveling.

Some sports supplements and sports foods can aid different aspects related to sports performance and recovery. An athlete can decide to take a risk and consume a sports supplement but must take precautions to avoid an adverse analytical finding following an anti-doping test.

No supplement is entirely safe to use regardless of the evidence for enhancing your performance.  

Sports supplements can pose a risk to athletes in 2 ways.

Risk #1 A supplement contains an ingredient as part of its formulation which is on the WADA Prohibited list.

Risk #2 A supplement contains an ingredient that is not part of its formulation but has somehow entered into the product during the manufacturing process.

In the unfortunate situation that a person has an adverse analytical anti-doping finding, and believe a supplement to be at fault, the person can use Article 10 of the WADA Code to establish some mitigation against any potential sanction.

Reduction of the Period of Ineligibility based on No Significant -Fault or Negligence

“As relates to subsequent sanctions (Art. 10 of the Code), the athlete has the possibility to avoid or reduce sanctions if he or she can establish to the satisfaction of the tribunal how the substance entered his or her system, demonstrate that he or she was not at fault or significant fault or in certain circumstances did not intend to enhance his or her sport performance”

Article 10 WADA Code (World Anti-Doping Code. (2021). World Anti-Doping Agency. www.wada-ama.org/code)

This means that the burden of proof is on the athlete.

There are 3 main ways a person can help demonstrate a non-fault argument as part of their due diligence towards reducing risks before they consumed the supplement.

1. Choosing only a product that has been through a Certified Quality Assurance Program.
2. Checking the product has a batch number that is referenced on the Quality Assurance Program webpage or App that is still part of this process prior to consuming the product.
3. Recording the batch number of the product with a screen shot using their phone.