Running and the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs): an ongoing dilemma?

Nevertheless, as suggested by Kenya and Ethiopia having a lower proportion of OCT blood tests, IAAF testing can be improved.

Perhaps there should also be a greater use of the Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) test, which identifies the presence of synthetic testosterone in the body for up to two weeks, and has a catch rate five times higher than the traditional Testosterone/Epitestosterone Ratio.

Despite Tyson Gay testing positive to the CIR test through urine samples collected by USADA and the IAAF (Admin, 'Tyson Gay Accepts Sanction For Anti-Doping Rule Violation', trackledger.com, May 3, 2014), WADA data indicates that the IAAF only conducted 97 similar tests in 2012.

However, the CIR test is expensive at around $400 in the USA, roughly twice the cost of the T/E ratio test, with its high cost likely to reduce the number of overall tests.

Presently there is an emphasis on longitudinal profiling in which individual athletes' test results are tracked over time. As an athlete's T/E ratio generally varies by less than 30% over time, with other steroid markers in urine samples similarly stable, the CIR is utilised if a T/E abnormality emerges even if under the legal 4-1 ratio.

In the end, the extent of testing does depend on resources and political will.

While WADA has sought to increase OCT in Kenya and Ethiopia with a facility scheduled to open in Eldoret in 2013, by early 2014 not a shovel was in site with a Kenyan committee also indicating that investigations into doping may stall due to lack of funds.

In the case of Jamaica, however, change has occurred. By April 2014, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) had announced that it would sign a Joint Training Initiative Agreement for 15 months with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and WADA in order to refine and upgrade its operational procedures to help improve its system. Along with JADCO receiving a 63% increase in government budgetary support for the 2014/2015 financial year, additional Doping Control Officers are to be recruited and trained to boost personnel.

These actions followed a successful appeal by the three-time Olympic gold medallist Campbell-Brown against a two-year ban on the grounds that strict WADA standards were not followed during her sample collection; eight Jamaicans failing doping test in 2013, the resignation of the entire JADCO board, and revelations by JADCO's former executive director, Renee Anne Shirley, that only one OCT was conducted in the five months leading up to the 2012 Olympics.

To conclude, the IAAF continues to make gains to encourage fairer competition, but resources and political will long remain critical to the task of ongoing improvement. As the evidence stands, there are a number of loopholes that remain exploited by athletes from both rich and poor nations, but the opportunity to cheat is indeed diminishing.