Australian Sports Drug Agency (2002). PO Box 345, Curtin, ACT 2605, Australia. [Email: asda@asda.org.au; Web: www.asda.org.au]

The new 2001 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods, Appendix A to the Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code, which came into effect on 1 September 2001 states that:

Formoterol, salbutamol, salmeterol and terbutaline are "permitted by inhaler only to prevent and/or treat asthma and exercise-induced asthma. Written notification by a respiratory or team physician that the athlete has asthma and/or exercise induced asthma, is necessary to the relevant medical authority prior to competition".

Particular attention should be paid to the latter statement that is an additional requirement that has been added for athletes who seek authorization to use asthma medications containing beta-2-agonists during the Olympic Games.

From 1 September 2001, at the Olympic Games, athletes will now have to submit clinical proof to a medical review panel and may be subject to on-the-spot tests to substantiate their ailment and their need for beta-2-agonists.

Several factors have brought about this change in policy by the IOC Medical Commission:

• A large increase in the number of athletes notifying the need to inhale a beta-2-agonist at the Sydney Games;
• A skewed distribution of notifications by sport, with a higher prevalence in endurance sports;
• Concern that athletes may have been misdiagnosed; and
• Concern that beta-2-agonists are being over-prescribed and that inhaled corticosteroids appear to be underutilized for athletes suffering from bronchoconstriction.

ASDA has been advised by Professor Ken Fitch, a member of the IOC Medical Commission, that the confirmatory test to be used at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games in 2002 is the Eucapnic Voluntary Hyperpnea (EVH) Test. Ken has recommended that all Winter Olympians who request permission to inhale a permitted beta-2-agonist should undertake this test before arriving at the 2002 Games and submit the evidence of their condition to the IOC Medical Commission (IOC-MC). Once the IOC-MC are satisfied with the evidence from the EVH test the athlete is less likely to be required to undertake an on-the-spot test at the Games.

All NSOs should take notice of the this information and contact the relevant international federation to determine whether the new asthma assessment requirement has already been imposed under the sport's international anti-doping policy for events other than the Olympic Games and if so, the implications for athletes.

As usual, please notify ASDA and the ASC if there have been any changes made to your sport's anti-doping policy. If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact your sports service officer.

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