❙ Cornelia Blank, Hannes Gatterer, Wolfgang Schobersberger ❙
Hypoxie und Doping: Vom Höhentraining bis zum rekombinanten Erythropoietin Hypoxia and Doping: From hypoxic training to recombinant erythropoietin
SUMMARY Doping remains a problem in organized sport worldwide. Even though there are significant effords to prevent doping – education as well as sanctions – reductions in positive doping cases are still not evident and real figures are unknown but estimated as high. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) publishes a yearly list with prohibited substances and methods. One of these prohibited substance classes is subsumed under erythropoietin-receptor agonists. Based on an increase in the erythropoiesis and thus in oxygen transport due to an increase in total hemoglobin, these substances lead to an increase in performance, especially in endurance sports. Training in natural and artificial hypoxia pursues a similar objective. However, in this regard, evidence of actual performance enhancement is very heterogenous. WADA did not prohibit training in artificial hypoxia yet, nevertheless, FIS and IOC have done so for all their official competitions. On the one hand, the current article aims at comparing the effects of erythropoietin receptor agonist-doping on performance enhancement with those of training in artificial and natural hypoxia, considering the physiological determinants of performance enhancement. On the other hand, internationally differing views regarding training in artificial hypoxia will be critically discussed based on the current WADA guidelines of prohibiting specific substances and methods. Keywords: Hypoxia, high altitude training, performance enhancement, WAD, erythropoiesis, doping 11
