A great example of a successful blood doping procedure with adverse side effects is of the 1984 United States Olympic cycling team. Previous American cycling teams had not fared well in past Olympic Games. However, in the 1984 Los Angeles games, they decided to try blood doping as a way to get an advantage on the competition. The results were a huge success. The team brought home an U.S. cycling team record of nine medals. The problem was not the fact that the athletes had undergone blood doping procedures, but, rather, how the procedure was performed. Between the Olympic trials and the actual games, the Americans did not have adequate time to use their own blood as a transfusion. Instead, they had to rely on the blood of relatives and others with similar blood types. Consequently, some of the cyclists received tainted blood and a short time after the Games contracted hepatitis, a serious liver disease (New Tests to Detect EPO Use." Blood Doping. http://www.wdn.com/mirkin/fc51.html )Special concern has been expressed that the cardiovascular system of an athlete undergoing this procedure could be in jeopardy. Still, there are athletes out there that will put them at risk just to experience the glory of being number one, regardless of the circumstances. However in the last few years several ways have been discovered to increase our bloods oxygen carrying capacity that are not detrimental to us in anyway. They are altitude training and the High Altitude Bed. Both are safe and practical ways to achieve what some people accomplish through a highly dangerous and somewhat controversial method.After the 1984 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee decided to discourage blood doping and, along with the NCAA and American College of Sports Medicine, ruled that "any blood doping procedure used in an attempt to improve athletic performance is unethical, unfair, and exposes the athlete to unwarranted and potentially serious health risks"(...
