Xenon gas use a grey area

Anyone who thinks the rules of this business are always black and white must be looking a bit grey in the face this week. Because if politics fired the gun then sport is now setting the pace in breaking down the distance between right and wrong.

Not that this is all to do with a famous athlete shooting dead his girlfriend and then being found guilty of manslaughter and not murder. Truth is only Oscar Pistorius knows exactly how black and white things really were in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year, when only Reeva Steenkamp could have shined any further light on it. And she’s not coming back.

Banned indefinitely

Nor is it all to do with a famous American footballer punching his fiancée (now wife) in the face and being punished with a two-game ban – at least until TMZ shined a little more light on it, so that the footballer is now banned indefinitely.

Truth is only Ray Rice knows exactly how black and white things really were in that Atlantic City casino lift in February of this year, when Janay Palmer, his wife, doesn’t appear to be entirely willing or able to shine any further light on it.

Although it does seem the sport of NFL has already broken down all distance between right and wrong when its punishment for beating a woman is significantly less than its punishment for smoking weed.

What is less black and white is the decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to ban a colourless, odourless noble gas known as Xenon, along with its near relative Argon.

It’s the latest example of how grey the whole area of doping in sport has now become – and whether or not there can be any defined distance between right and wrong.

Charlie Francis always said anabolic steroids were not banned because they were unethical, anabolic steroids only became unethical because they were banned.

This was his way of justifying why many of his athletes, particularly Ben Johnson, were encouraged to take steroids, and not worry about what is right and wrong.

Unapologetic attitude

Francis had a simple and unapologetic attitude towards doping, partly on the assumption that the rules of sport were never black and white.

Wada’s decision to ban Xenon gas – as of September 1st – is pure grey.

Firstly, the gas is in fact naturally occurring, even if it makes up only 0.000009 per cent of the atmosphere, and was among the last of the naturally occurring elements to be identified, in 1898.

It’s also rated as one of the “shyest” members of the periodic table of elements, given it’s almost completely inert.

Secondly, there is no way of accurately detecting its use, not yet anyway, so even though it is banned, it’s unlikely any athlete can be banned for using it (unless they openly admit it).

Indeed this is what brought it to Wada’s attention in the first place. Following the Winter Olympics in Sochi earlier this year, reports emerged of several Russian athletes – particularly their cross-country skiers and speed skaters – using Xenon gas, not just in training but in competition.

It turns out the Russians have been using Xenon for years, originally for medicinal purposes, such as an anaesthetic or in treating heart-attack victims, and more recently for increasing levels of erythropoietin, better known as EPO, in their athletes.

Dr Mario Thevis, of the Wada-accredited control laboratory in Cologne, was recently quoted on the effects of Xenon inhalation in animal experiments: “Within a day, the production of EPO has increased by a factor of 1.6, to 160 per cent. It is highly likely that it has the same effect in humans.”

Given its renowned benefits in increasing endurance, Wada has already banned all methods of artificially raising EPO levels (blood doping, injecting synthetic EPO, etc), but is inhaling Xenon strictly artificial? And if so is it any more artificial that inhaling the thin air while training at high altitude, or simply mimicking the effects of high-altitude training by sleeping in an oxygen-deprived tent?

Part of Wada’s decision to ban Xenon is the fear that given its anaesthetic properties any excessive intake could be potentially fatal.

The temptation for excessive intake is certainly there: according to a document produced in 2010 by the State Research Institute of Russia’s Ministry of Defence, athletes are advised to inhale a 50-50 mixture of Oxygen and Xenon for a few minutes, every 48-72 hours, before bedtime.

It also advises a quick hit immediately prior to competing, as well as a further dose afterwards.

The resulting benefits were an increased heart and lung capacity, a reduction in muscle fatigue, a testosterone boost and improvement to an athlete’s mood.

Banned list

Not since caffeine was added and then removed from the banned list has there been less certainty about the right and wrong of a decision like this.

There is also the argument that by banning a substance such as Xenon gas, without yet having any reliable rest for it, Wada may actually be encouraging its use. There is the potential for an athlete to be snared through the biological passport, where unexplained increases in EPO levels can be punishable with a ban. But even if the rules of doping in sport can never be black and white, now, by banning a natural gas such as Xenon, Wada may well have created another shade of grey.