On behalf of all scholars of sport who value scientific pursuit of truth over idle speculation, I would like to dedicate my first post of the year to the Norwegian scientists whose earnest endeavors regularly get overshadowed by attention-seeking amateur sleuths. Earlier this week, a compatriot of theirs published a book in which he claimed, among other things, that a number of Norwegian athletes have resorted (and still resort) to illicit performance-enhancing means (such as blood boosting) and that Norwegian sports officials don’t really care much about anti-doping.<\/p>\n
Titled Den store dopingbl\u00f8ffen, or The Great Doping Bluff, the sensationalist tome by Mads Drange not only thrives on speculation; it bluntly ignores recent academic discoveries concerning the role of doping in Norwegian sport. In what follows, I simply deflate the former anti-doping official\u2019s pompous pamphlet by presenting respected Norwegian scholars\u2019 findings on the topic.<\/p>\n
First of all, no serious observer can overlook the fact that \u2019cultural differences\u2019 account for the \u2019systematic use of doping\u2019 in some countries. In Norway, by contrast, doping is perceived as \u2019high treason against the nation\u2019, hence the conspicuous shortage of so-called drug cheats. (S. Loland and D.V. Hanstad, What is efficient doping control? NSSS, 2005.)<\/p>\n
Indeed, the \u2019Norwegian attitude to doping has always been clear\u2019, and Norway\u2019s self-defined role as a \u2019moral leader with regard to sports ethics\u2019 is acknowledged across the globe. Since the early 1990s, this tiny Nordic country has successfully combined a \u2019high level of performance with a plain \u201dno\u201d to the use of performance-enhancing substances\u2019, a truly remarkable achievement that has been validated by at least two surveys:<\/p>\n
\u2019No elite athletes, neither in 1993 nor in 2003, stated that they would use doping and practically no one from the two coach groups from 2003 answered \u201dyes\u201d. … Elite athletes were most clearly opposed to the use of these (banned) substances. The reason for this may be that most individuals in this group have been socialized into a pronounced anti-doping culture.\u2019 (R. Gilberg, G. Breivik and S. Loland in Doping in Sport: Global Ethical Issues, 2008.)<\/p>\n
Still another academic study confirms the \u2019unanimous rejection\u2019 of illicit drugs and methods by Norwegian top athletes. Again, the outright rejection of unethical means can be attributed to the \u2019strong anti-doping culture\u2019 that prevails in Norway. No doubt the \u2019strict and clearly articulated public Norwegian anti-doping attitude\u2019 has had a \u2019strong regulative effect\u2019 on Norwegian athletes irrespective of their discipline. (G. Breivik, D.V. Hanstad and S. Loland in Sport in Society, 6\/2009.)<\/p>\n
As regards cross-country skiing, the national sport beloved by each and every Norwegian, it is no secret that Norway has always stood in favor of \u2019active anti-doping work\u2019. In fact, Norwegian sports physicians and skiers too have often called for \u2019improve(d) anti-doping activity\u2019. (D.V. Hanstad in European Sports Management Quarterly, 4\/2008.) Come to think of it, Norway\u2019s exemplary anti-doping strategy should be adopted by \u2019tainted\u2019 ski nations such as Russia in order to finally \u2019clean up\u2019 their act (D.V. Hanstad, The suspicion towards Russia, INHDR, 2011).<\/p>\n
Tons of identical evidence could easily be adduced, but the point has been made. Alas, scientific truths can hardly dominate headlines to the same extent as speculative ruminations by people whose only claim to fame might be a few years’ work experience in an anti-doping laboratory. Let me nonetheless plead with Norwegian scholars to stand up and be counted! Don\u2019t let your athletes down and the honor of your country undefended! Keep on disseminating the science-based message of yours amid recurrent media furor over unsubstantiated allegations!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On behalf of all scholars of sport who value scientific pursuit of truth over idle speculation, I would like to dedicate my first post of the year to the Norwegian scientists whose earnest endeavors regularly get overshadowed by attention-seeking amateur sleuths. Earlier this week, a compatriot of theirs published a book in which he claimed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-okategoriserade"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2JbBl-e6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}