Inside the Shadowy World of PEDs: SAIDS's Mission, and Why Endurance Athletes Choose to Cheat.

The High-Stakes Race: Doping, Deception, and the Fight for Clean Sport

In South Africa, the fight to keep competition clean rests primarily with the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS). As recent high-profile cases have demonstrated, the battle against doping is far from over, requiring constant vigilance to detect increasingly sophisticated methods, from blood manipulation to the illicit use of hormones like Erythropoietin (EPO). This article explores SAIDS's crucial role, the mechanisms behind these banned substances, and the psychological pressures driving athletes to cheat the system.

The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) is the independent national anti-doping organisation, established by an Act of Parliament.

• Purpose and Mission (Domestic): SAIDS's core mission is to detect, deter, and prevent the use of prohibited substances and methods in South African sport. It aims to foster a culture of ethics and fair play, protecting the health and well-being of athletes. The Drug-Free Sport Act grants the Institute the authority to conduct drug testing across all sport codes.

• International Role: SAIDS operates in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (WADA Code) and its International Standards, ensuring South Africa's anti-doping programme is harmonised with global best practices. WADA stands for the World Anti-Doping Agency. This cooperation often includes reciprocal testing with other national and international anti-doping organisations (ADOs).

Recent Cases in South African Sport

Recent years have seen high-profile doping violations across various South African sports, underscoring the ongoing challenge. While not all cases involve endurance athletes, they highlight the persistent risk:

• Max Knox (Mountain Biker): Received a four-year ban in 2018 based on irregularities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), which indicates doping over time rather than a single positive test.

• Carina Horn (Sprinter): Received a six-year ban for a second doping offence in 2023, testing positive for Clenbuterol. While a track athlete, this highlights the severity of repeat offences.

• Samuel Matsepe (Endurance Runner): A prominent ultra-distance and marathon runner, Matsepe was sanctioned by SAIDS in October 2025. This case underscores SAIDS's continuous vigilance in testing and prosecuting violations within the endurance running community, emphasizing that top performers in long-distance events are actively monitored.

The SAIDS website maintains a list of sanctions imposed, including cases involving various athletes in cycling and other competitive sports, showing that anti-doping rule violations are regularly detected and punished.

The Prohibited Substance: Erythropoietin (EPO)

In endurance sports like long-distance running, cycling, and triathlon, the banned substance Erythropoietin (EPO) is a prime example of performance-enhancing drug (PED) misuse.

Feature	Description
Substance	Erythropoietin (EPO), a peptide hormone.
Usage	Naturally produced by the kidneys to stimulate red blood cell production. Synthetic recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) is used medically to treat anaemia.
Why Athletes Use It	By injecting EPO, athletes artificially increase the red blood cell count and, consequently, the oxygen-carrying capacity of their blood. This leads to increased aerobic capacity (VO2 Max), enhanced endurance, and delayed fatigue, offering a significant competitive advantage.
Sources	Illicit EPO is often acquired through black market channels, including unregulated online pharmacies, international suppliers (e.g., from China), or unscrupulous 'athlete support personnel' (coaches, trainers). This illegal sourcing is highly dangerous as the authenticity, dosage, and quality of the substance are unverified, posing severe health risks.
Health Risks	EPO use thickens the blood, drastically increasing the risk of blood clotting, deep vein thrombosis, stroke, heart attack, and high blood pressure.

Doping: Under Control or a Problem?

While precise, verifiable statistical data on the total number of amateur and professional athletes currently using banned substances is unavailable—due to the secretive nature of doping—available evidence suggests it remains a persistent and serious problem.

• Detection Method (ABP): The Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) method of detection is an indirect strategy. Instead of testing for a specific banned substance on a given day, the ABP establishes an individual, longitudinal profile of an athlete's blood and/or urine variables over time. Statistical analysis is used to flag unusual fluctuations that indicate the use of doping, such as blood manipulation (Hematological Module) or steroid use (Steroidal Module). This approach makes it harder for dopers to time their drug use to avoid detection.

• Prevalence Estimates: Studies attempting to gauge doping prevalence in competitive sports show a wide range (from 0% to over 70% in some self-reporting surveys), with most estimates generally falling under 5% based on sample analysis. However, athletes who dope are constantly evolving their methods to evade testing, making detection-based statistics a probable underestimate of actual use.

• Amateur Involvement: Doping is not confined to the elite. There's a growing concern about PED use in recreational and amateur sports, especially in categories like cycling and long-distance running, driven by personal goals, age-group competition, and vanity, making the problem harder to control outside of professional structures.

The continuous cycle of new anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) and the development of sophisticated detection methods (like the ABP) indicates a constant battle. It is not under control; it is an ongoing, evolving challenge requiring persistent vigilance, education, and research.

Is SAIDS Fair and by What Standards?

SAIDS is generally considered fair by the international standards it is mandated to follow.

• Standard: SAIDS's rules and procedures are governed by the WADA Code (established by the World Anti-Doping Agency) and its eight International Standards (e.g., Testing and Investigations, Laboratories, Results Management). Adherence to the WADA Code is mandatory for national anti-doping organisations.

• Due Process: The process ensures athletes have the right to a B-sample analysis, the right to a fair hearing before an independent panel, and the right to appeal any decision, upholding the principles of natural justice and global harmonisation of rules.

The Price of Prestige

Athletes who choose to risk their careers, health, and reputations by doping are often driven by a complex interplay of factors, often described as "the spirit of sport" being corrupted by "the spirit of winning at all costs."

• Pressure to Perform: Immense pressure from sponsors, national federations, teams, and family expectations to deliver results, especially in a career with a short window of opportunity.

• Fame and Financial Reward: The enormous financial incentives and prestige tied to winning at the highest level can outweigh the perceived risk of being caught. For an elite athlete, a podium finish can be life-changing.

• The "Everyone is Doing It" Mentality: A perception, whether true or false, that competitors are doping, leading to a desperate attempt to level the playing field or gain a necessary edge.

• The Short-Cut Illusion: The lure of an easier short-cut to success compared to years of clean, dedicated training.

Ultimately, doping is an ethical failure that undermines the intrinsic value of sport. While anti-doping organisations like SAIDS work tirelessly to protect clean athletes and the integrity of competition, the lure of the competitive edge ensures that the fight for drug-free sport will continue for the foreseeable future.