Doping has become one of the most important and high-profile issues in contemporary sport. Shocking cases such as that of Lance Armstrong and the US Postal cycling team have exposed the complicated relationships between athletes, teams, physicians, sports governing bodies, drugs providers, and judicial systems, all locked in a constant struggle for competitive advantage.
The Routledge Handbook of Drugs and Sport is simply the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of social scientific research on this hugely important issue ever to be published. It presents an overview of key topics, problems, ideas, concepts and cases across seven thematic sections, which include chapters addressing:
- The history of doping in sport
- Philosophical approaches to understanding doping
- The development of anti-doping policy
- Studies of doping in seven major sports, including athletics, cycling, baseball and soccer
- In-depth analysis of four of the most prominent doping scandals in history, namely Ben Johnson, institutionalized doping in the former GDR, the 1998 Tour de France and Lance Armstrong
- WADA and the national anti-doping organizations
- Key contemporary debates around strict liability, the criminalization of doping, and zero tolerance versus harm reduction
- Doping outside of elite sport, in gyms, the military and the police.
With contributions from many of the world's leading researchers into drugs and sport, this book is the perfect starting point for any advanced student, researcher, policy maker, coach or administrator looking to develop their understanding of an issue that has had, and will continue to have, a profound impact on the development of sport.
About the Author: Verner Møller is Professor of Sport and Body Culture at Aarhus University Denmark. His edited and authored books include Elite Sport, Doping and Public Health (2009), The Ethics of Doping and Anti-doping - Redeeming the Soul of Sport? (2010) and Doping and Anti-doping Policy in Sport: Ethical, Legal and Social Perspectives (2011)
Ivan Waddington is Visiting Professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo and the University of Chester, UK. His edited and authored books include Sport, Health and Drugs (2000), Sport Histories (2004), Pain and Injury in Sport (2006), and An Introduction to Drugs in Sport. Addicted to Winning (2009)
John Hoberman is Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas. He is author of a number of books including The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics, and the Moral Order (1986), Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance and the Dehumanization of Sport (1992), Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race (1997) and Testosterone Dreams: Rejuvenation, Aphrodisia, Doping (2005)
