e, surprisingly enough, bans caffeine. "Taken in certain specific doses, caffeine can raise an athletes metabolic level, body temperature, blood pressure and blood sugar level." (IOC, p.2) This means that if an Olympic runner was to wake up late on the date of their race and had a hangover from the night before he would have to run with a migraine rather than drink some coffee and take a Tylenol. This example is all too real. Silken Laumann, a Canadian rower at the Pan American games had a hefty cold a few days from her race, to relieve her symptoms she decided to take a Benadryl. On the day of the race her team won the gold but the euphoria of victory was short lived when the announcement that Laumann had failed her drug test came through. All four were stripped of their medals. Benadryl is an over the counter cold medicine that contains an illegal stimulant. Ironically there are two types of Benadryl: the one athletes can take and the one that's illegal. Coincidentally, Laumann was handed the wrong kind. In an interview Laumann was quoted saying "It was a negative experience. Ultimately, I felt it was a very innocent mistake and it was treated like a crime at first."(Buffery, p.2). One can clearly see that the extreme availability of illegal substances makes the laws look futile. The laws are also ineffective because the punishments are offset by large financial endorsements that attach themselves to winning thus creating a demand for the drugs that aid winning. Most athletes are told from a very young age that winning is good because of the prize instead of being taught that cheating is bad. At any given amateur sporting event there are always
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