As the Winter Olympics end, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is investigating whether to add weight loss jabs to the banned list for the next Summer Olympics in 2028.
The agency is monitoring Semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in popular GLP-1 medication, including Ozempic, to see if it is being abused by athletes to cheat.
“We want to see whether we detect patterns of abuse of this drug or this class of substances in sport,” Dr Olivier Rabin, WADA’s senior director of science and medicine, told Sky News.
“So we keep an eye on them because there’s been a change in paradigm in the way weight can be controlled because of those drugs. So there is an interest from all sides, from the performance enhancing aspects and health protection of the athletes with this class of substances [and] will they end up being on the [banned] list.”
WADA would need to find that athletes are using the drugs to boost performances and that their health is being risked or the spirit of fair sport is being violated.
Dr Rabin said in a recent interview that a decision could be taken by the end of this year or in 2027, adding: “Possibly before the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.”
Experts say endurance athletes could benefit most.
Mykhaylo Mudryk: Chelsea winger could face four-year ban after being charged over alleged doping
Russian athlete in 1,500m race at London 2012 disqualified – bringing total to five
Kamila Valieva: Russian figure skater qualifies for free skate at Winter Olympics in gold medal position – despite failed drugs test
The drugs make you feel fuller, so you want to eat less, and that can cause energy deficiency. It means muscles might not absorb enough nutrients and other necessary drugs.
But there are welfare issues too, with athletes facing pressure to take the drugs.
Kate Seary, co-founder of the Kyniska Advocacy for safe sport, said: “In many ways a more invisible issue is GLP-1s being used to control the weight of athletes.
“There are toxic environments where the idea that thin equals fast, thin equals powerful, or even thin equals beautiful in sport are still really present.
“And that is because they’re under a number of wider pressures within the sport system. I think I would always go along the lines of banning it until we know the long-term consequences.”
Read more:
Women dominate weight loss jab take-up
Weight loss drugs ‘may need to be continued for life’
Follow our channel and never miss an update.
The jabs are also a concern for Dr Ian Beasley, the former medical chief for England football teams and a Team GB Olympics physician.
“When you’re trying to look for minimal gains and try to get up to the next step, you might try it,” he said.
“If you wanted to cheat, could you take it during a close season and then reap the benefits during the season? And how would you be able to measure that? I think these are the questions that WADA are grappling with that make life very difficult.”
Exemptions could be granted for athletes really needing anti-obesity jabs, for example, in cases of diabetics to control weight issues.
But the fear is that the authorities are playing catch-up with athletes potentially already using the medication.
