The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has announced its findings in a study on Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) in Olympic and Paralympic Athletes. Results found that across four Olympic Games, TUEs were present in 0.90% of athletes while the four Paralympic Games had a total TUE prevalence of 2.76%.
TUEs allow for athletes with “legitimate medical conditions” to receive treatment while training and competing in their respective sports. This means that athletes can take medications that are listed under the WADA prohibited list if they have a legitimate medical condition.
There have been concerns of potential abuse of TUEs and athletes who received TUEs when they did not have “legitimate medical conditions.” The claims have been a frequent retort to critics of doping violations in China and Russia, with individuals from those countries pointing to the Fancy Bear leaks by Russian hackers that alleged to show TUEs of top American Olympians like Caeleb Dressel. The veracity of those leaks was never confirmed.
WADA Medical Director, Dr. Alan Vernec spoke on the study, “The results of this study provide objective data to dispel some of the concerns and misconceptions surrounding TUEs that they are prone to misuse or serve as a means for ‘legitimized’ doping.”
WADAs study included four Olympic Games and four Paralympic Games. Across the four Olympics, 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a total of 328 TUEs were found. These 328 TUEs came from 258 athletes. This means that the prevalence was a total of 0.90%.
Glucocorticoids at the 2016 Rio Olympics and stimulants at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were the most frequently observed TUEs. These results are similar to a study published in 2020 by The British Journal of Sports Medicine. That study found a TUEs had a prevalence of 0.9% from the 2010-2018 Olympic Games.
The four Paralympic Games also took place in 2016 Rio, 2018 Pyeongchang, 2020 Tokyo, and 2022 Beijing. 364 substances from 272 athletes were approved in total at the four Paralympics. This resulted in a prevalence of 2.76%. Diuretics in Rio and stimulants in Tokyo were the most common TUEs.
Is the study publicly accessible?
There’s a link at the end to a summary. Summary doesn’t answer most of the questions you probably want answers to, but does go into some detail.
Meaningless study. Its been mentioned in the comments but for this to be effective we need data on % of athletes per country with TUE’s, % of athletes who win, podium and made finals with TUE’s, Most common TUE’s, the distribution of TUE’s per sport, the ratio of male to female, and how it compares to the general population of people taking prescriptions per country. If it comes out that 0.9% of athletes were on TUE’s but 50% of them made finals and 25% of them won a medal and 10% won gold then we need to rethink how TUE’s are regulated. Also a more in depth study could benefit coaches and athletes if it turns out that over 50%… Read more »
I did see some stat that Olympians who have exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (formerly referred to as exercise-induced asthma) are more likely to medal than those who don’t have it
‘Abuse of TUE’s’ is an interesting one. Before Tokyo Kyle Chalmers admitted to needing 12 cortisone injections in his shoulder, which you need a TUE for, and he said he had the same injections for these games. That seems a fairly liberal use of TUE’s to me, potentially… abusive?
I don’t think there’s anything performance enhancing about it, but it is very risky to do that many shots.
Glucocorticoids like cortisone are only banned in competititon so don’t require a TUE out of competition.
While proving very little abuse of TUEs it may also suggest that Olympians are basically generally healthy people.
Woah, never heard about the alleged TUE leak on Dressel. Was it ever explained what exactly his alleged TUE was?
Probably exogenous estrogen
I would not be surprised if it is anxiety-related.
He had an incident at a junior nationals meet in 2013 when he had trouble breathing, and was taken to the hospital. It might be asthma.
https://swimswam.com/breaking-dressel-taken-jr-nats-ambulance/
He had a scooter wreck and had medications from hospital that require TUE
I think he had a motorcycle accident during his off-period. It could be related to some injuries.
First follow up questions before the results become meaningful: was it higher by medals vs non-medals, differentiation by sports, nationality
Study would be more interesing if it did a breakdown by nationality.
Love how you conveniently leave out the fact that three countries account for 63% of TUEs: the US, Australia and France (also the three countries that did the best in swimming in Paris).
And you know this how? Guessing? Speculation? Just plain fake news?
Actually this was a statement from the WADA from a report dating 2016. I know its hard to believe that Americans cheat but, come on just look at your society especially in the urban area.
In its 2015 Annual Report, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reported that the number of TUEs entered into its Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) increased 30% to 1,330 during 2015. Of this total, 63% (839) came from just three countries – the US, Australia and France.
Hey man don’t hate! Americans suffer gravely from Asthma!
France is a little surprising.
Can you cite your source for that stat? Not seeing it in the study.
Me when i spread misinformation on the internet
For those who don’t know that number is from 2016 when fancy bears leaked wada tue database