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Erythropoietin, also called EPO is a peptide hormone that is naturally secreted by the kidneys. It has an essential role in red blood cells production. In fact, EPO stimulates bone marrow to make more blood cells that are carrying oxygen, so there will be more haemoglobin. Athletes who use EPO are using it in order to improve their stamina. By having more red blood cells, an athlete is more likely going to ran out of breath in far more time and feel less tired, because the red blood cells transporting oxygen will allow their muscles to have more energy and they will have a higher rate of aerobic respiration. By this way, athletes are boosting a lot their performance and that is why it has been banned for all competitions.

Although EPO seems to have so much beautiful effects, its misuse can bring terrible side effects such as fever, seizures, nausea, headaches, anxiety and legarthy. But most importantly, it increases the viscosity of the blood and therefore it increases the chances of having heart attacks, strokes and embolisms.

There are two ways to produce EPO, therefore red blood cells production. The natural way is to train in altitude. There, the oxygen is rarer than on the sea level and to counter the effect of having less oxygen and therefore less aerobic respiration, the kidneys will produce more EPO that will stimulate bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. The other way, the synthetic way, is to inject in your blood genetically modified cultures of Chinese hamster cells made by drug makers.

Two tests are used to detect the use of synthetic EPO: a blood test and a urine test. To be sure that an athlete used EPO, only the urine test is reliable and some organisms are using both blood and urine tests to be a 100% sure. We can't rely only on the blood test because it analyses the percentage of red blood cells in the blood and if the percentage is higher the athlete might, and only might, have taken EPO. In fact, athletes who are born in countries in higher altitude have naturally a higher percentage of red blood cells and athletes who train in higher altitude will also have a higher percentage and that makes the blood test not really reliable.

Borrell, Brendan. ‟Hormone used for doping is made from scratch″. Nature. Nature international weekly journal. 12th of December 2013. Web. 28th of April 2015. http://www.nature.com/news/hormone-used-for-doping-is-made-from-scratch-1.14363

‟EPO DETECTION″. WADA. World anti-doping agency. 2015. Web. 28th of April 2015. https://www.wada-ama.org/en/questions-answers/epo-detection

‟Erythropoietin (EPO) ″. Teach PO. 2015. Web. 28th of April 2015. http://www.teachpe.com/drugs/epo.php

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Erythropoietin, also called EPO is a peptide hormone that is naturally secreted by the kidneys. It has an essential role in red blood cells production. In fact, EPO stimulates bone marrow to make more blood cells that are carrying oxygen, so there...

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July 10th 2105, the Pan American Games are coming! You may not know but it's the world's third largest international multisport game. This year, they're proudly hosted by Canada and more precisely in the province of Ontario (Toronto). Many...

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"We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square."
- Michelle Obama
This quote of Mrs. Obama reveals the true value of playing fair, something that quite a lot of Olympic athletes did not take into consideration.

Since the beginning of sporting competitions in ancient Greece, athletes have been winning in an unfair way, and competitors have always been taking whatever advantage they can just to win the gold medal.

Everyone who watched the 1988 Olympic Games knows the famous incident that happened to the world wide known sprinter Ben Johnson. For those who are not familiar with this subject, The International Olympic Committee stripped off his gold medal although he beat the world record time of 9,79s because his post-race drug test indicated use of steroid. It's clear that the ones who cheat will be sooner or later uncovered. After the second time Ben Johnson tested positive for drug use, The Olympic Corporation expulsed him from the games to show the world that such act is not tolerated.

The filmmaker Daniel Gordon opens our eyes on this issue by coming up with a documentary featuring Ben Johnson and his drug ingestion to enhance his speed ability as well as his competitor Carl Lewis, a USA runner. Also, he exposes the six other men who lined up at the start of the most watched race in history.

" I realised that each of these men had a story to tell, about what had brought them there, how they felt during the race, what happened to them afterwards. It was a bigger story than just a drugs scandal", says Daniel Gordon.

The director digs into the controversy conducting several interviews with Lewis and Johnson as well as their competitors and coaches. He states that " The fact that there was so much suspicion around them all was, in itself, interesting."

His film changes our perception of the way this story has once been told. It's an interesting documentary to watch and it's impressing how the director managed to interview the 8 finalists.

Amateurs who look up to these famous athletes are deceived by this illegal act because they are not winning with honesty.

The best part is when Carl Lewis looked at Ben saying ,"C'mon. Are you serious?"

MLA

"The Seoul Games." Los Angeles Times. 4 August 2009. Web. 28 April 2015. http://articles.latimes.com/1988-09-26/sports/sp-1...

"Michelle Obama Quotes." BrainyQuote. 2001. Web. 28 April 2015. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/michel...

"9,79s". ESPN. 4 June 2003. Web. 28 April 2015. http://espn.go.com/30for30/film?page=9.79

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corruption or dope, it's all the same - Tackk

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"We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square."- Michelle ObamaThis quote of Mrs. Obama reveals...

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I used to be one of the bestI used to feel fire running threw my chestSprinting was my lifeBut I decided to play with knivesThe first time I took some It was like heaven invaded my soulFaster and faster I wanted to runI had finally reached my...