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Alexei Koudinov

Editor, Doping Journal

Alexei Koudinov, M.D., Ph.D., Dr.Sci., Editor, Doping Journal, P.O.Box 1665, Rehovot 76100 Israel
email: postmaster@dopingjournal.org

Published online: 13 August 2008 | Updated: 16 August 2008

Copyright © 2008 by Koudinov A, licensee The Doping Journal

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ABSTRACT ARTICLE TEXT

DISCLOSURE REFERENCES

There could be several mechanisms, says Stefan Koelsch of Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in Leipzig, Germany, who has published 40 articles on the subject of how the body reacts to music [2,3]. Dr. Koelsch says that "music can have influences on the breathing rate (e.g. via emotional effects such an increased arousal) which will alter oxygen levels in the blood, or relaxing effects (so that fewer muscles consume oxygen, which also increases oxygen levels)." He says that his group "has reported clear changes in breathing rate on a conference last year, with breathing rate being higher during pleasant music." In line with Koelsch conclusion are the data of the research article by Luciano Bernardi group of the University of Pavia, Italy, implying that the withdrawal of music shortly before the swim race induces relaxing effects noted by Koelsch [4].

Figure 2: 4x100 m Freestyle Relay Men start (August 11, 2008). Photo to the left depicts a moment of wearing earphones by an American team swimmer just 1 min 35 sec before his start. Note that the time difference between the present Gold and Silver is just 00:00.08 sec (Right). For timing and other specifics please see Table 2 below:

"[I]t is quite clear that music can reduce the effort associated with a given physical load," say Laszlo Harmat and Tores Theorell of Karolinska Institute, Sweden, the home of the Nobel Prize in Medicine. "The reason for this is probably that the body has a better ability to coordinate muscles and economize the use of energy. It is even likely that this is in some way programmed," Swedish scientists add.

Another evidence comes from the research done with human infants. It showed that music causes better saturation of hemoglobin with oxygen (a so-called SPO(2) parameter, compared with control subjects receiving no music, indicating an "enhancement of oxygen transfer") and that increased by music, oxygen saturation returns to the baseline faster compared with control, making it hard to detect the transient oxygen saturation shortly thereafter [5]. While Koelsch preferred his own explanation on how music can improve body oxygen capacity, Dr. Alexander Cherniak, a researcher at the Chuchalin Pulmonology Institute of Moscow, Russia agrees that medical experimentation with infants allows good standardization of the research protocol, appropriate statistics and could be projected onto the adults.

Figure 3: 200 m Freestyle Men start (August 12, 2008). American swimmer Michael Phelps came to the swimming pool deck wearing earhones (left), and removed them 1 min 16 seconds before the start (right). Another swimmer who worn headphones before the start was Park Taehwan of Korea. For timing and other specifics please refer to Table 3 below:

So, can one call listening to music shortly before entering the swimming pool for competition a performance enhancement? Yes, say both Koelsch and Cherniak. "[It] is in line with this," add Harmat and Theorell. If so, how long could this enhancement last? "Duration [of the effect is] not certain, from seconds to minutes," adds Koelsch. Beijing Olympic and world records by medal holders fall into the expert's projected time frame. Yes, testifies Dr. Vance Bergeron, of Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, Laboratoire de Physique in Lyon, France: "[M]usic next to the swimming pool, less than 2 minutes before the start could indicate performance enhancement because of transient increase of blood oxygen capacity."

Figure 4: 4x200 m Freestyle Relay Men (August 13, 2008). A member of American team came to the swimming pool deck wearing earhones (left), and was noticed to wear phones 1 min 30 seconds before the start (right). For timing and other specifics please see Table 4 below:

Bergeron adds that such a performance enhancement is "a bio-chemical feedback mechanism from an external source. The external source in the present case, music, is available to everyone, not harmful to the athlete or his peers, and carried out under full disclosure, hence I do not see how this conflicts with fair play and honesty," but says that "I am not an expert on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)."

Figure 5: 200 m Butterfly Men (August 13, 2008). American swimmer Michael Phelps came to the swimming pool deck wearing earhones (top left), and removed them 1 min 45 seconds before the start (top right). Hungarian swimmer Laszlo Cseh (bottom left) came to the pool deck with no earphones. He was the second, just 00:00.67 behind a winner, who worn phones. Bottom right photo illustrates final moments of the race. For timing and other specifics please see Table 5 below:

Well, one doesn't have to be an expert on WADA policies, as the scientific evidence provided herein enforces all to take WADA code [6] as is. The Prohibited List 2008 of The World Anti-Doping Code reads [7]:

Figure 6: World Antidoping Code Ruling Qualifies earphone music before swimming race is a technique to enhance Oxygen Transfer

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Straightforward ruling results in a straightforward conclusion by a number of independent scientists: Listening to music through earphones before the start is in line with other measures prohibited.

Therefore, Beijing 2008 swimming Olympic medals by the pool deck music listeners are faked and should go to others who battle for it fairly.

Doping Journal is an independent free online publication on every aspect of doping science and antidoping policies. The journal serves an unbiased research and development of the science on doping, fair and science based transparent anti-doping laws, transparency of policies and the translation of the research into routine lab practice. Special objective is to protect athletes from the misconduct by WADA, IOC, CAS and Sports Federations. The journal aims to become a leader and worldwide forum on doping science and practices by all interested parties, scientists, medical professionals, athletes and lawyers. Alexei Koudinov and The Doping Journal have no competing financial interests.

Earlier account of this commentary was published during Athens Summer Olymic Games 2004 [8] after no response on the matter from Sports and FINA officials [9].

1.A blog posting at www.kidzworld.com says that “Michael Phelps is a huge fan of rap music. Before a swimming practice or race, he usually listens to Biggie, Jay-Z, DMX or 50 Cent.” [ URL ][ Back2Text ].

2. Dr. Stefan Koelsch articles could be discovered at National Institutes of Health PubMed database [ PubMed ][ Back2Text ].

3. Koelsch S, Siebel WA. Towards a neural basis of music perception. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Dec; 9(12): 578-84 [ PubMed ][ Back2Text ].

6. The World Anti-Doping Code (last viewed 12 August 2008) Available at http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/document/code_v3.pdf [ URL ][ Back2Text ].

8.  Koudinov AR. Doping by the pool? Doping Journal  Vol. 1, 1 (2004), Freely available at http://dopingjournal.org/content/1/1/ [ FullText ][ Back2Text ]