ANPEA man works out in a gym (archive)
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 19:06
Using stimulants to improve sports performance: doping use is a well-known phenomenon, and not only in top sports. New research suggests banned performance-enhancing drugs are growing in popularity among amateur athletes.
The social science research institute Mulier carried out the research on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The results show that almost a quarter of the people who participate in strength sports use some form of doping. For martial artists this is even 47 percent.
For this study, Mulier asked more than 2200 athletes, anonymously, who practice strength or martial arts once or twice a week. Most respondents fell within the category of strength sports – for example fitness, crossfit and bodybuilding. Because a much smaller proportion of the respondents practice martial arts, there is a larger margin of error on the result of that group. The 47 percent mentioned is an average between 38.1 and 56.6 percent.
Researcher Lisanne Balk says: “Even if we are at the lower end of that uncertainty margin, the numbers are quite high.” The margin of error is smaller in the group of strength athletes. There, the percentage that uses doping is between 20.9 and 27.9 percent.
Doping is understood to mean all prohibited substances listed in the National Doping Regulations, such as anabolic steroids, peptide hormones and other prohibited stimulants. Of that list, anabolic steroids are used most often: 22 percent of strength athletes and 38 percent of martial artists use the drug.
Balk adds that figures of doping use from previous studies are considerably lower, around 10 – 15 percent.
‘You can’t help but use doping’
Former kickboxer Remy Bonjasky recognizes the image. He owns multiple kickboxing gyms and sees usage increase. “At the moment there are a number of prominent fighters who are suspended or have just come out of a suspension. Many people shout: you can only use doping to win. I don’t believe that.”
Bonjasky says that he himself has sometimes been offered it by training partners. “I’ve always said: if I can’t win it on my own, then I don’t have to. My body is the most important thing there is. “You have to keep it clean.”
People are insecure and want quick results, this is how the athlete explains the use of doping. “That’s the pity of it. If you want to have a good body now, you should have started it three quarters of a year ago. Don’t try it with means that give you such an acceleration that it is not natural.”
Side effects
The use of doping has unpleasant side effects, explains internist Pim de Ronde. He is the founder of a steroids outpatient clinic in the Spaarne Gasthuis in Hoofddorp. “Anabolic steroids are synthetic variants of the male sex hormone testosterone. They increase muscle mass and muscle strength, but also lead to a masculinization of the body.”
This drug not only leads to nasty side effects in women, but also in men. “It disrupts the hormone system and therefore also fertility. In addition, it leads to a disruption of the cholesterol profile, blood pressure rises a bit, oily skin can occur, mood swings and the heart muscle can become thicker. In short: it has effects on all kinds of organs.”
The doctor says he is shocked by the percentages. “We know that this is not rare, but that it is increasing, also among women, that shocks me.”
Minister Helder (Sport) sent a letter to the House of Representatives this evening in response to the investigation. She says that doping, together with match fixing, threatens the integrity and social value of sport.
