Nutrition in Combat Sports

4 Doping in Combat Sports 57
Gradually, the term adopted a wider usage and in reference to sport, it became
known as ‘doping.’ Dop first appeared in an English dictionary in 1889, where it
was described as a narcotic potion designed to influence a racehorse’s performance
[17, 18, 21] .
Contemporary use has extended the understanding, and hence the definition, of
doping to include the unfair improvement of performance. As the practice of doping
has developed, the word itself has come to refer not only to the misuse of drugs,
but also to the use of other methods of improving performance or of attempting to
manipulate the test [17] .
Although at first glance, the definition of doping seems axiomatic, but in fact,
there has been no consensus agreement regarding the comprehensive and everywhere
accepted definition between coaches, athletes, and sports authorities. So, doping has
been defined through a variety of viewpoints.
As one of the first organizational definitions, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) defined “doping” in 1967 as the “use of substances or techniques
in any form or quantity alien or unnatural to the body with the exclusive aim of
obtaining an artificial or unfair increase of performance in competition” [22] .
Nowadays, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has presented a more
inclusive and acceptable definition, which regards doping as the occurrence of one
or more of the anti-doping rule violations, including:
– The presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s
bodily specimen
– Use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method
– Refusing, or failing without compelling justification, to submit to sample collection
after notification as authorized in applicable anti-doping rules or otherwise
evading sample collection
– Violation of applicable requirements regarding athlete availability for out-of-competition
testing including failure to provide required whereabouts information and
missed tests, which are declared based on reasonable rules
– Tampering, or attempting to tamper, with any part of doping control
– Possession of prohibited substances and methods
– Trafficking in any prohibited substance or prohibited method
– Administration or attempted administration of a prohibited substance or prohibited
method to any athlete, or assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering
up, or any other type of complicity involving an anti-doping rule violation or any
attempted violation [23]
4.3 Epidemiology of Drug Misuse in Combat Sports
Convincing data on the prevalence of drug misuse in elite sports (including combat
sports) are difficult to achieve because the athletes involved in the practice will
normally deny or conceal their illegal and socially unacceptable activities. However,