The fight against doping from the perspective of Swiss athletes and coaches

Abstract

The fight against doping is not primarily a fight against fallible athletes and coaches but rather a fight for clean athletes and coaches. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate how Swiss athletes and coaches perceive the doping problem and the current anti-doping policy. Two online surveys of 1040 Swiss squad coaches and 588 Swiss athletes of various sports were conducted in 2016 and 2017. 41.5% of athletes and 31.5% of coaches identified a serious doping problem in their sport. This perception varied significantly by sport (p≤0.001). 94.2% of athletes and 91.7% of coaches argued in support of a strict prohibition of doping. The risk of getting caught when using banned substances and methods in Switzerland was perceived as high by 83.9% of athletes and 88.2% of coaches. A vast majority of athletes (92.5%) and of coaches (92.0%) thought that the state of the fight against doping differs greatly throughout the world. Greater international cooperation was seen as the most important measure in the future fight against doping. In conclusion, athletes and coaches consider doping to be a serious problem and strongly support a strict anti-doping policy all over the world.