when did drug testing start in the olympics
Doping at the Olympic Games During the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes discovered ways to improve their athletic abilities by boosting testosterone. As their methods became more extreme, it became increasingly evident that the use of performance-enhancing drugs was not only a threat to the integrity of sport but could also have potentially fatal side effects on the athlete. The only Olympic death linked to athletic drug use occurred at the Rome Games of 1960. During the cycling road race, Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died. A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamine, which had caused him to lose consciousness during the race.[4] Jensen's death exposed to the world how endemic drug use was among elite athletes.[5] By the midâ€“1960s, sports federations were starting to ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and the IOC followed suit in 1967.[6]