Научный Корреспондент Вашингтон Пост: Золото Майкла Фелпса на Олимпиаде в Пекине - Результат Акустичекого Допинга перед Стартами

Слушать iPod перед стартом - это все равно что принять допинг препарат перед самым олимпийским заплывом

Рик Вейс (Rick Weiss)
Старший сотрудник, Центр Прогресса Америки
научный корреспондент газеты Вашингтон Пост

Представьте, что Вам выпала честь выступить на Летней Олимпиаде в Пекине. Вы идете по Пекинской улице за день до соревнования, и уличный торговец подаёт вам скрытый от посторонних глаз намек подойти по-ближе. В нерешительности, Вы все же приближаетесь. В тот самый момент, когда незнакомец открывает полы своего пиджака – вы видите странный приборчик, наполовину погруженный в его внутренний карман.

«Тссс,» - говорит он, - «Хотите выйграть Золото? Гарантирую помощь! Причем помощь эта – легальная!»

«Что это,» - спрашиваете Вы, когда он подносит поближе волшебный приборчик, размером даже меньше, чем кредитная картаа, и торчашими из него проводами.

«Внутричерепной трансдуктор,» - говорит торговец на ломанном английском. – «Прикрепляешь к своим ушам и... фокусируешь свой мозг, увеличиваешь кислородную емкость крови, подготавливаешь мышцы для соревнования. Сделано в Китае,» с гордостью заверяет «горе-бизнесмен».

«Так это же устройство для Допинга,» - восклицаете Вы с негодованием.

«Нет, нет!» машет руками незнакомец, в ужасе озираясь по сторонам, чтобы убедится, что никто не услышал инкриминируемого ему заявления. – «Я же сказал, всё 100% легально.»

«Как же он называется?» - спрашиваете Вы.

Китаец оглядывается по сторонам, и говорит шопотом, так, чтобы никто не услышал «iPod,» - мы называем это Ай Под. Он помог Фелпсу. Он может помочь и Вам”

***

Сегодня практичеси каждый знает, что Майкл Фелпс, восьмикратный Олимпийский чемпион, побивший мировые и олимпийские рекорды в плавании на летней Пекинской Олимпиаде 2008 года, фанат mp3 плейера с торговой маркой Ай Пода (iPod). За считанные минуты перед каждым олимпийским стартом, в ушах Фелпса обязательный атрибут его имиджа – эти самые провода зашишенной торговой марки. Сам Фелпс неоднократно говорил, что он слушает музыку Эминем, Янг Джизи, Лил Вайне и Джей-Z (Eminem, Young Jeezy, Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z) для усиления воли к победе и концентрации.

Если разложить на его технические составляющие, iPod – это не что иное, как прибор, который передает электрическую энергию в энергию акустическую, в данном случае музыку

Улавливаете, куда я клоню? Прежде чем я продолжу, отвлекитесь от своей системы координат, обывательской точки зрения. Прислушайтесь и подумайте о следующем. Сейчас поясню. Упомяну Российского доктора и ученого доктора биологических наук Алексея Кудинова, ведущего научного сотрудника академической группы академика ТТ Березова, НИИ Биомедицинской Химии имени Ореховича РАМН, с которым мне довелось неоднократно общаться на разные биомедицинские темы. Среди прочего Алексей Кудинов редактирует организованный им во время Афинской Олимпиады 2004 года, издаваемый и возглавляемый им научный Допинг журнал. Так вот неделю назад, вскоре после того, как я задумался и сам провел параллель между Ай Подингом и допингом, доктор Кудинов прислал мне ссылку на его публикацию в Олимпийском авторском блоге спортивных комментаторов американской газеты Балтимор Сан, издаваемой в родном городе Фелпса. В этой публикации Алексей поднимает те же вопросы о допинге, котрые я сам хотел обсудить со своими читателями. Грустно, что этот блог вызвал немедленное экспансивное высмеивание сетевыми читателями.

“Кто оплачивает эти идеи?” написал один из респондентов, как-будто в ответ на радикальный призыв Кудинова к Фелпсу вернуть свои медали. Другие называли саму идею о том, что музыка усиливает силу атлета перед соревнованием не иначе как «глупостью», «идиотизмом», “навеянной деньгами”

Один умный комментатор утверждал, что “автор статьи может написать в статье в Допинг Журнале, что он сам использует допинг». Другой не столь «здравомыслящий» назвал очерк Кудинова «бесполезной тратой чернил». В действительности, впрочем как и со всеми онлайн публикациями, чернила тут не причем, мы уже давно про них забыли.

Но давайте разберемся в проблеме. Если разложить на его технические составляющие, iPod, предлагаемый гипотетическому олимпионику торговцем-китайцем – это не что иное, как прибор, который передает электрическую энергию в энергию акустическую, в данном случае музыку. Но как всякий знает, музыка может оказывать существенное психологическое и физиологическое влияние на организм человека. Музыка может помочь слушателю расслабится. Музыка может вызвать агрессию или восторг. Может породить прилив эмоций и внутренней энергии.

Если Вы считате, что это общие слова, то как насчет научной работы, опубликованной в Журнале Исследований Медицинских Сестер (Journal of Nursing Research) в 2003 году. Это исследование показало, что у тех госпитализированных младенцев, которым включали музыку, происходило существенное увеличение кислорода крови, по сравнению с детишками, не получающими такой «музыкальной терапии». Теперь вспомните, что Анти-Допинговый Код Всемирного Анти-Допингового Агенства, его последняя редакция 2008 года, действительная на Олимпийских играх 2008 года в Пекине, в своей статье M1, подкатегории “Запрещенных методов,” запрещает использование “искусственного усиления поступления в организм, транспорта и доставки кислорода...”

Я полагаю, что изложенное выше поднимает интересный правовой и философский вопрос о том, что же попадает под понятие “исскуственный”. Говоря словами одного из наиболее циничных блоггеров-комментаторов: «каждый знает, что дыхание увеличивает кислород крови. Должно ли это также считатся запрещенным?» Так далеко в рассуждениях я не пойду. Нормальное дыхание конечно никто отменять не собирается, но как быть с гораздо менее естественными способами, такими, например, как глубокое дыхание, разгибание (растяжка) или разминка?

Дальше – больше! Музыка может влиять не только на уровень кислорода. Кудинов цитирует научную работу Стефана Кёльша из НИИ Мозга имени Макса Планка в Лейпциге, Германия, который опубликовал не один десяток научных статей о влиянии музыки на организм человека. Согласно Келша, музыка вызывает так называемый эффект релаксации. Это означает, что для выполнения одного и того же объема работы, после прослушивания музыки будет затрачено меньше мышечной массы атлета, а это опосредованно также увеличит кислород во всем организме, поскольку «не работающие мышцы» его потреблять не будут.

С учетом многочисленных разговоров на нынешней Пекинской олимпиаде о рисках и подводных камнях “шумовых эффектов и колебаниях,” которые могут привести даже у самых лучших гимнастов к потере равновесия, можно сказать определенно: релаксация имеет большой потенциальный эффект на соревновательный потенциал спортсмена и его способность бороться за медали.

Кстати сказать, успокоительные лекарства, такие как бета-блокаторы, запрещены во многих Олимпийских спортивных дисциплинах. Пример тому – вторая неделя Олимпиады, когда у Северо-Корейского Олимпионика стрелка Ким Джонг Су отобрали серебрянную и бронзовую медали после того, как его анализ крови дал положительный результат на пропранолол, который замедляет серцебиение на фоне нервозности, и считается допингом потому, что снижает беспокойство и усиливает концентрацию.

Музыка перед стартом может дать Фелпсу и дополнительные преймущества. Именно в момент отмены музыки всего за минуту или две перед стартом. Еще одна научна работа Итальянских ученых, опубликованная в 2005 году установила: внезапная музыкальная пауза после интенсивной музыки перед началом соревнования даёт «меломану» счастливый билетик на олимпийский подиум. Потому что музыка вызывает возбуждение, а последующая музыкальная пауза – волну релаксации-расслабления. Как раз то, о чем и говорил немецкий исследователь Стефен Кельш.

“Музыка, особенно у тренированных людей, сперва концентрирует внимание во-время быстрых [музыкальных] ритмов, а затем вызывает релаксацию во время музыкальной паузы,” заключает исследование итальянских ученых.

...Весь текст статьи Рика Вейса включает еще несколько параграфов на философские вопросы, что же такое допинг. Оригинальный английский текст находится по приведенному веб адресу на сайте ScienceProgress.org

Оригинальный текст: Оригинальный текст: Рик Вейс. Майкл Фелпс использует акустический допинг? (Слушать iPod – все равно что использовать допинг препараты) Биоэтика: Прогресс Науки. Веб сайт AmericanProgress.org Опубликовано онлайн 22 Августа 2008 [Весь Тескт]
Rick Weiss. Is Michael Phelps A Sonic Doper? (Listening to an iPod Is Like Taking Drugs) Bioethics: Science Progress by AmericanProgress.org Published online 22 August 2008 [FullText]

Литературный перевод на Русский язык – Алексей Кудинов, Doping Journal, http://www.dopingjournal.org

Об авторе: Рик Вейс (Rick Weiss) – до июня 2008 года - репортер газеты Вашингтон Пост, освещающий вопросы науки и медицины. Он пришел в эту столичную американскую газету в 1993 году, а в 1996 году возглавил команду, занимающуюся вопросами генетики, молекулярной биологии и другими аспектами биологии и медицины.

До того, как прийти в столичную Вашингтон Пост, Вейс работал пишущим журналистом в Журнале здоровья Сан Франциско и ряде других медицинских изданий. У Вейса – степень Бакалавра по биологии Корнельского Университета, Нью-Йорк (1974), а также степень Магистра Журналистики, полученной в аспирантуре Университета Калифорнии в Беркли (1983-1985). Статьи Вейса являют собой пример лучшей отвественной научной журналистики, и украшают такие издания как Вашингтон Пост, Нью-Йорк Таймс, Лос Анжелес Таймс, журнал Сайнс, Дисковер (Открытие), Хроника Сан Франциско и другие.

С июня 2008 года Вейс – старший специалист Центра Прогресса Америки

Is Michael Phelps A Sonic Doper? Listening to an iPod Is Like Taking Drugs

by Rick Weiss
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Former Washington Post Science Reporter

Original Publication:

Is Michael Phelps A Sonic Doper?
(Listening to an iPod Is Like Taking Drugs)
Bioethics: Science Progress by AmericanProgress.org
Published online 22 August 2008
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/08/doping/

Imagine you have qualified for the Olympics and are walking down a Beijing street the day before your event, when a vendor gives you a covert signal to come closer. You approach warily as he opens a flap of his trench coat, revealing something half tucked into an inside pocket.

“Pssst,” he says. “You want to win gold? Guaranteed to help. And perfectly legal.”

“What is it?” you ask, as he shows you a mysterious device, smaller than a credit card and with wires dangling from it.

“Intracranial transducers,’” he says in practiced English, pointing to the ends of the wires. “Stick them in your ears and they focus the brain, increase blood oxygen, prepare muscles for action. Made here in China.”

“So it’s a doping device!” you say with disgust.

“No, no,” the man exclaims in a hoarse whisper, looking around to make sure no one else has heard your incriminating comment. “Like I said, totally legal.”

“So what is it called?” you ask.

He looks askance again, then leans over and whispers in your ear: “‘iPod,’” he says. “We call it ‘iPod.’ It worked for Phelps. It can work for you.”

***

It is now a widely known fact that Michael Phelps, winner of a record-breaking eight gold medals in this year’s Olympics, is an iPod fanatic. In the minutes before diving into the pool, those trademark white wires were almost invariably hanging from his ears. He has confessed at various times to using tunes by Eminem, Young Jeezy, Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z to motivate him and enhance his concentration.

When broken down to its mechanical elements, an iPod is nothing more, and nothing less, than what my hypothetical Chinese huckster was pitching—a device that transduces electrical energy into acoustical energy, namely music.

You see where I am going with this. And before I go any further, why don’t you get it out of your system? Let me have it. I know what’s coming because soon after I began to wonder about the parallels between iPoding and doping, an Israel-based medical doctor and scientist with whom I have communicated occasionally in the past—Alexei Koudinov, who among other things edits an online scientific publication called The Doping Journal—sent me a blog in which he raised the same issue. And that blog, I saw, had led to instant and effusive derision by his online readers.

“Who pays this guy to think up things like this?” one respondent wrote, after Koudinov argued the undoubtedly extreme case that Phelps should give up his medals. Others called the idea that music should be classified as a performance enhancer “asinine,” “silliness,” “a crock,” “ridiculous,” and “mean-spirited.”

One clever commentator claimed that “The writer of the article is qualified
to write for that [Doping] Journal: He is a Dope!” Another, less clever, called Koudinov’s posting “a waste of ink.” In fact, as with most online postings, no ink was involved.

But let’s pursue the idea a bit further. When broken down to its mechanical elements, an iPod is nothing more, and nothing less, than what my hypothetical Chinese huckster was pitching—a device that transduces electrical energy into acoustical energy, namely music. And as everyone knows, music can have profound psychological and physiological effects. It can relax a listener. It can anger or enthrall. It can excavate deep emotions and energy.

If that is not specific enough, consider research published in the Journal of Nursing Research in 2003, which showed that hospitalized infants who had music played for them had significantly higher oxygen levels in their blood than other babies . Now consider that the 2008 World Anti-Doping Code of the World Anti-Doping Agency, in Article M1 under the category of “Prohibited Methods,” bans methods of “artificially enhancing the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen….”

I suppose this raises the interesting legal and philosophical question of what is “artificial.” In the words of one especially cynical blogger: “As just about everyone knows, breathing increases blood oxygenation. Should this also be considered illegal?” I won’t go that far. But even if normal breathing is acceptable, what about the arguably less-natural activities known as deep breathing or stretching or limbering up?

Moreover, music can affect more than mere oxygen levels. Koudinov cites research by Stefan Koelsch of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, who has published research on biological responses to music. According to Koelsch, music can induce biochemical “relaxing effects.” Given all the talk during this year’s Olympics about the risks and downsides of “having the jitters,” which can throw even the best of gymnasts off their balance beams, relaxation is clearly a big potential benefit.

Yet anti-jitter drugs, such as beta blockers, are expressly prohibited in many Olympic sports (including marksmanship, as evidenced last week when the North Korean Olympic shooter Kim Jong Su was stripped of his silver and bronze medals after blood tests came up positive for propranolol, which can slow a heart that is racing from nervousness and, in so doing, reduce anxiety and enhance concentration).

Phelps may even have received a double benefit by yanking out his ear buds in the last minute or two before competing. Research published in 2005 suggests that intense music followed by a sudden silent pause may be just the ticket for someone poised at the edge of an Olympic pool, since the music itself can boost arousal and the sudden silence that follows can induce, in handy sequence, a wave of relaxation.

“Music, especially in trained subjects, may first concentrate attention during faster rhythms, then induce relaxation during pauses,” that study concluded.

...continue reading full article at the ScienceProgress.org web site

Música que Phelps ouve na beira da piscina é doping?

Antonio Prada, Portal Terra

PEQUIM - A cena é conhecida. E virou marca. Phelps remove os fones de ouvidos dois minutos antes de cada prova começar. Fez isso diversas vezes nos Jogos Olímpicos, nas eliminatórias, semifinais e finais das provas no ginásio Cubo d'Água.

Ganhou oito ouros. Quebrou recordes. Virou mito. Depois de 40 exames antidopings, antes e durante as competições, há quem acredite que o aditivo que move o corpanzil com tempos agora memoráveis nas piscinas sai dos dois pequenos alto falantes que entram pelas grandes orelhas e ocupam o cérebro.

O doping musical do garoto branco de Baltimore, 23 anos, é o negro rap. Ouvir música aumenta a capacidade de oxigênio no sangue e melhora a performance do atleta, segundo o Instituto Max Planck para Cognição Humana e Ciências do Cérebro, em Leipizig, na Alemanha. E isso é ilegal, atestam alguns especialistas.

Quem defende a tese é o doutor Alexei Koudinov, editor do Doping Journal Web site, baseado em Israel, que não tem dúvidas: "ouvir música com fones de ouvido antes do início de uma competição é método inválido e os ouros e recordes de Michael Phelps em Pequim são falsos. As medalhas deveriam ir para outros competidores", escreveu.

Koudinov utiliza várias análises, entre as quais a do doutor Stefan Koelsch, do instituto alemão, para tentar enquadrar o uso da música como doping. Segundos os estudos, que divulgam como o corpo reage à música, os sons podem ter influências sobre a taxa de respiração, a qual altera os níveis de oxigênio no sangue. O relatório reporta mudanças claras na taxa de respiração durante a audição de músicas.

O artigo cita ainda pesquisas da Universidade de Pávia, na Itália, realizadas com crianças, que concluem que a retirada de um estímulo musical momentos antes de uma prova de natação induz aos efeitos reportados por Koelsch.

A pesquisa mostra que a música causa melhor saturação de hemoglobina com o parâmetro de oxigênio, comparado com iniciativas sem música, indicando incremento na taxa de transferência de oxigênio (método considerado proibido em competições de acordo com o Código Mundial Anti-Doping, artigo M1, atualizado em 2008).

A utilização da música minutos antes de uma competição ainda não foi avaliada pela Agência Mundial Anti-Doping (Wada).

Enquanto isso, Phelps dá play no seu ipod e recebe adrenalina na beira da piscina, ao som, entre outros, do rapper norte-americano Lil Wayne, que carrega tatuagens pelo corpo inteiro e tem cara de bad boy: 'I'm me, so Who are you? You're not me; You're not me and I know that ain't fair, but I don't care' (Eu sou eu, então quem é você? Você não é eu; Você não é eu e eu sei que não é justo, mas eu não ligo).

Source: Antonio Prada, Portal Terra. Música que Phelps ouve na beira da piscina é doping? [17/08/2008 :: 18:42] jbonline.terra.com.br semana.com

Also see: Doping Journal Vol.5, 2 (13 August 2008)

Using better science to deal with doping

Doping scandals have plagued sporting events like the Olympics for years and show no signs of going away. Finding cheaters isn't easy, but the difficulty of the task doesn't justify the bad science and scare tactics routinely used by anti-doping authorities.

There are four reasons commonly cited to discourage doping: It compromises athletes' health, creates an uneven playing field, damages the integrity of sport and sets a poor example for youth. Many scientists and bioethicists believe current international anti-doping policies aren't helping in any area.

Though there is some evidence that substances like steroids are harmful to youth, most of the horror stories regarding banned substances are little more than fairy tales. A 300-pound linebacker or a screaming line drive can inflict more harm on an athlete than the contents of any syringe.

One of the most outspoken critics of anti-doping authorities is Dr. Bengt Kayser, director of sports medicine at the University of Geneva. He claims that the ban on performance-enhancing drugs hurts elite athletes, who will use them anyway, because they are less likely to seek appropriate medical supervision.

In a 2005 article in the medical journal The Lancet, he claimed legalization would "encourage more sensible, informed use of drugs in amateur sport, leading to an overall decline in the rate of health problems associated with doping."

Authors of a recent statement in the British Medical Journal were even harsher in their rebuke of anti-doping agencies, claiming they exaggerate the dangers of drugs like steroids and are driven more by a "misguided moralistic motivation to protect sports" than by a desire to protect athletes.

The argument that doping should be legalized in sports is hard to swallow. If that were the case, we might as well hand out medals to chemists at the Olympics. However, it does stand to reason that making an activity illegal doesn't necessary stop it and, quite possibly, makes it more dangerous.

Of even more concern to scientists than the fear-mongering is the lack of scientific rigour displayed in anti-doping laboratories. Tests to detect doping are calibrated by monitoring the effects of a banned substance on a few volunteers. Any well-designed study for a disease treatment would have a large sample size with some participants on the drug and others on placebos, and neither subjects nor scientists would know who is in which group.

Not only are anti-doping agencies using tests of dubious merit, they exhibit an alarming lack of transparency. The editorial board of the journal Nature recently took these agencies to task, claiming that "by not publishing and opening to broader scientific scrutiny the methods by which testing labs engage in study . . . the anti-doping authorities have fostered a sporting culture of suspicion, secrecy and fear."

Nobody wants the results of sporting events to be determined by who has the best drugs. Anti-doping authorities are on a valid mission, but they are not exempt from the basic standards of good science.

Source: Using better science to deal with doping. The Ottawa Citizen (19 August 2008) [FullText]

Scientific evidence invalidates Phelps Beijing 2008 Olympic swimming gold, world records?

For a referred article by the Doping Journal, images, timing and other data please use this citation and link:

A Koudinov. Scientific evidence invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic Swimming medals
The Doping Journal Vol. 5, 2 (13 August 2008)

Did you notice that Michael Phelps wears earphones and is listening music just before his every Olympic start, at Beijing's Olympiad Water Cube pool deck, be it finals or semifinals? I first noticed that before his first gold swim on August 10: Phelps removed earphones 2 minutes before the start, and he was the only swimmer who worn earphones at the pool deck. Intriguing scientific evidence testifies: Listening to music improves blood oxygen capacity and is a performance enhancement.

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. 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.

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. 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.

So what? Can one call listening to music shortly before entering the swimming pool for competition a performance enhancement? Yes, say both Koelsch and Cherniak. 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 Phelps 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."

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)."

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

PROHIBITED METHODS
Article M1. ENHANCEMENT OF OXYGEN TRANSFER
The following are prohibited:
2. Artificially enhancing the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen...

Straightforward ruling results in a straightforward conclusion: Listening to music through earphones before the start is in line with other measures prohibited. Therefore, Phelps' Beijing swimming golds is faked and should go to others who battle for it fairly.

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Readers talk:

"I can understand why many of you claim heresy for the words of the author of this article. But just take Michael Phelps out of the picture, and just use any athlete. If listening to music increases oxygen to the bloodstream - which is an artificial act, it technically falls under the definitions of the codes and is illegal... But of anybody, Michael Phelps does it for a reason, and he knows why."

Posted by Ben at Baltimore Sun Olympics Sports Blog, August 14, 2008 6:59 PM Voice your public or scientific opinion after reading Doping Journal article.

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Doping Journal, www.dopingjournal.org , 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.

Also available at Rick Maeses's Beijing Olympics Blog Of the Baltimore Sun Sports Section (13 August 2008)

Doping by the pool invalidates Phelps first American swimming Beijing 2008 Olympic gold, world record

For a referred article by the Doping Journal, images, timing and other data please use this citation and link:

A Koudinov. Scientific evidence invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic Swimming medals
The Doping Journal Vol. 5, 2 (13 August 2008)

During Athens 2004 Summer Olympic games we explained why music by the pool is a behavioral doping and prohibited by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in competition blood-doping method of "the use of products that enhance the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen" (Doping J, Vol.1, 1, 27 August 2004 www.dopingjournal.org/content/1/1). We based our conclusion on the analysis of the previously published research (J Nurs Res. 2003 Sep; 11(3): 209-16) that showed how in humans, music makes saturation of oxyhemoglobin significantly higher (compared with control subjects not receiving music therapy), and that as a result of music the level of oxygen saturation returns to the baseline faster (compared to the control subjects receiving no music), making it hard to detect the transient enhancement of the blood oxygen capacity shortly thereafter.

These data clearly imply that music by the pool is not yet recognized blood-doping method that conflicts with the essence of olympism, and WADA/IOC calls for "ethics, fair play and honestly". Wearing headphones by Michael Phelps today morning seconds before the 400 metres man individual medley well qualifies an invalidation of the American first swimming Olympic gold and world record by Phelps.

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