鈥淚f you look at 听who doped in the 鈥70s and 鈥80s, they showed up at swim meets and were visually larger than their counterparts, and people were like, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going on here?鈥欌 says Dr. , the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency鈥檚 Science Director.听He鈥檚 in charge of guiding the agency鈥檚 science, testing, results management, and supplement areas. I called him to ask how easy it is to visually spot a doper after spending most of July wondering if those super skinny Tour de France riders and superhuge CrossFit gamers were, um, all听natural. 鈥淏ut that kind of thing I don鈥檛 think happens鈥擨 won鈥檛 say ever鈥攂ut not so obviously as it did before,鈥 he says. 鈥淏ecause people aren鈥檛 just using steroids anymore.鈥澨
That鈥檚 because performance enhancement now goes way beyond increasing strength. Newer, more sophisticated substances can give athletes a mental edge, promote ridiculously fast recovery, and generally rewire the body from the inside, allowing it to transport oxygen more efficiently, for instance. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way you could tell by looking at somebody that they have more red blood cells,鈥 Fedoruk says.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way you could tell by looking at somebody that they have more red blood cells,鈥 Matthew Fedoruk says.
Still, when I press, he fesses up some of the visually undetectable things dopers are doing these days, careful to highlight the associated health risks. He should know. Last year, USADA handed out 听and performed , the 听were on cyclists (1,454 tests) and runners (2,205 tests). That鈥檚 1,007 more total tests than in 2012.听
In particular, Fedoruk has seen an increased use of EPO, 鈥渁 hormone that boosts oxygen levels in the blood by prompting the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells,鈥 as one of our writers found out when he volunteered to inject the stuff听more than a decade ago. Back then, experts blamed EPO for a rash of pro cycling deaths. Today, athletes are still using it, though the pros have switched to more refined intake formats like microdosing. But it鈥檚 not without side effects; EPO can thicken your blood, increasing your risk of cardiac arrhythmias and pulmonary embolism.听
Some athletes also use 听to promote weight loss, Fedoruk says, as it changes the way the body metabolizes sugar. (If you鈥檙e not diabetic, using insulin puts you at risk of hypoglycemic coma and death.) There鈥檚 also been a rise in TUEs, or therapeutic use exception applications for stimulants traditionally used to treat ADD, like , Fedoruk says, which can increase focus.听
That鈥檚 not to say people don鈥檛 still use steroids. 鈥淭raditional anabolic steroid use is still surprisingly quite prevalent,鈥 Fedoruk says. (Just peruse 听for proof.) Like the drugs mentioned above, they鈥檙e relatively cheap and easy to come by, making them a favorite among cheating amateurs and pros alike. And because the right steroid regimen helps endurance athletes become more lean than bulky, it can still be difficult to tell at a glance if your newly-cut nemesis is doing something nefarious, or simply exercising more self-control in the face of cronuts.
鈥淧eers are very good at determining, 鈥極h this performance doesn鈥檛 necessarily fit into the pattern of what we would expect from this person,鈥欌 Fedoruk says.
There鈥檚 one more drug Fedoruk didn鈥檛 mention that鈥檚 become popular among pro cyclists. 听has been touted as exercise-in-a-pill, a compound that can increase endurance and power-to-weight ratio by making muscles burn fat rather than sugar for fuel. This could make a person appear skinnier as well. (So my suspicions about super thin Tour de France riders weren't unfounded.)听But the drug costs close to six figures which means the likelihood that the guy you鈥檙e racing against is using it very small. Humans, Velo Nation , would have to take 500 milligrams of AICAR per kilogram of bodyweight every day for four weeks just to match the amount mice took to improve endurance performance in a groundbreaking 听(the drug was originally created to protect against ). At an estimated $80 to $100 per gram, that would cost a 160-pound athlete $2,900 to $3,625 per day, or $81,000 to $101,500 for the month. And that鈥檚 just a wild estimation. There is 鈥渘o research whatsoever to show how much and how long you need to take it to get an effect, so figures are hard to determine,鈥 .听
Yet while visual cues may not be the most useful method for identifying dopers in today鈥檚 PED-savvy world, vision-plus-intuition can prove a reliable tool. 鈥淧eers are very good at determining, 鈥極h this performance doesn鈥檛 necessarily fit into the pattern of what we would expect from this person,鈥欌 Fedoruk says.听
And if you are suspicious enough, you can 听always tip off the doping police with an email, call, or anonymous tip to USADA鈥檚 . (The Tip Center is also useful if you鈥檙e concerned about someone鈥檚 potential drug use because the side effects of all of these drugs can be life threatening.) USADA can test any athlete who is member of a U.S. sport governing body including USA Cycling, USAT, USATF, etc., Fedoruk says.听
The takeaway? There is no such thing as a typical doper. Nowadays, they come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. You can make up your mind about someone. But who you call about it鈥攜our buddies for a good gossip session, or USADA鈥攊s up to you.