Changing the game But a growing number of people are calling for the goal posts to be moved. James Waddington, author of Bad to the Bone , a novel about drug use in the Tour de France, says the time is ripe to discuss whether sportsmen and women should be allowed to take what they like to create a level playing field. Others argue that the present system is unfair because it fails to stop a significant proportion of competitors from gaining an advantage through taking illicit substances. For this reason codeine, another fairly innocuous substance, was recently taken off the blacklist. Some observers say the boundaries are artificial between illicit substances such as ephedrine and legal ones such as caffeine and the sports supplement creatine.
Some athletes resort to ingenious methods to get round the rules.
But some cyclists are said to have benefited from other legal, if dubious, performance-enhancing tricks, such as surgery to widen the iliac artery to boost blood flow to the legs. Opponents of drugs in sport, including some in the IOC, swiftly denounced Samaranch's comments, and Carrard says his colleague's thoughts were misinterpreted. The news that some armed forces are considering trying performance-enhancing substances has fanned the debate. The Australian government's Defence Science and Technology Organisation in Adelaide says that scientists attached to the Australian military have recommended the short-term use of ephedrine in combination with caffeine as a stimulant. However, Honour points out a flaw in the argument for allowing drugs so long as they are safe.