Paralympic officials keep eye out for 'boosting'

August 16, 1996
Web posted at: 3:20 a.m. EDT

From Correspondent Andrew Holtz

ATLANTA (CNN) -- As athletes converge on Atlanta for the 1996 Paralympic Games, the worldwide athletic competition for people with physical disabilities, officials are on the lookout for those who may seek unorthodox ways to boost their performance.

Just as at the Centennial Olympic games, there will be drug tests for banned substances such as steroids at the Paralympics. But, there also are other concerns.

"A wheelchair athlete might actually put a nail in their chair to sit on," explained Dr. David Apple, chief medical officer at the Paralympic games. "They don't feel it, but their body experiences the pain stimulus. And this provides the same boosting effect to the blood pressure and the pulse, so that they get a little boost in their ability to perform."

Experts say such a move may improve an athlete's performance by as much as 15 percent. Another boosting technique involves the catheters some Paralympic athletes use to drain their bladders.

"If they kink that or block it off somehow so that the bladder fills up, that sets off a stimulus to the autonomic nervous system," Apple said.

Telltale signs of boosting include pale skin, sweating and hair standing on end. There are no statistics on how many athletes have tried boosting, but Apple says there were hints of the practice at the last Paralympic games, in Barcelona.

"Well, I can remember in Barcelona that there was suspicion that (drug use) was going on. But there wasn't much made of it in the four years since. It has become more prevalent and more of a concern for everybody."

While boosting may give an athlete an advantage over others, it is not specifically banned under current rules.

Nevertheless, officials say an athlete showing signs of boosting would probably be asked not to compete, in part because the huge jump in blood pressure and heart rate can be hazardous.

"This runs the athlete the risk of a stroke or rupturing a blood vessel somewhere," Apple said. "So it's very dangerous."

Apple says to his knowledge such an injury never has occurred during the Games, but he does not want the Atlanta Paralympics to see the first casualty of an attempt to boost for the gold.

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