Blood Doping Was Used by Athletes Before EPO Became Available

Blood doping is one of the oldest forms of performance enhancement in endurance sports. Before synthetic EPO became available, athletes would have blood removed and stored weeks before competition. Their bodies would naturally replace the lost red blood cells. Then, just before competing, athletes would have the stored blood reinfused, dramatically increasing their red blood cell count and oxygen-carrying capacity. The practice was particularly common in professional cycling and Nordic skiing. Blood doping is difficult to detect because it uses the athlete own blood rather than foreign substances. The practice was banned by the IOC in 1986, but it remained popular until EPO provided a more convenient alternative. Today, the biological passport system makes blood doping easier to detect by monitoring an athlete blood parameters over time.