Why don’t you Dope? A preliminary analysis of the factors which influence athletes decision not to Dope in Sport

The purpose of this paper is to examine why athletes do not dope in sport. The research treats the ‘problem’ of doping as an issue of ‘control’ and draws on control theory (Hopwood, 1974; Byers, 2013) to analyze athletes choices not to engage in doping. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with cur- rent Canadian athletes, former athletes, coaches, and officials from seven different sports that competed in the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), national and international events, professional sport, Pan American Games, provincial teams, and World University Games. In total, 20 interviews were conducted with 7 female and 13 male participants. Results indicate that an over- abundance of administrative formal control mechanisms may be creating confusion and inefficiency in the doping control system. More powerful control mechanisms such as social and self-controls seem to be operating amongst athletes and issues of trust and the role of emotion are significant concepts that re- quire further research in this context.