Creating fear: the 'doping deaths', risk communication and the anti-doping campaign

One of the most recurrent topics in the anti-doping literature is the one about 'doping deaths', or the more encompassing 'doping health hazards'. This is hardly surprising since one of the main justifications for the current anti-doping policies is that they have been set up to protect athletes' health. This article critically examines the rational and empirical basis for the claims concerning famous 'doping deaths', such as those of Arthur Linton, Tom Simpson or the Dutch and Belgian cyclists who allegedly died due to erythropoietin (EPO) abuse in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is argued that these claims have become common sense or naturalized knowledge through repetition and lack of critical confrontation, and it is demonstrated that they are untenable under close scrutiny. It is therefore concluded that they are perfect examples of a discourse of fear, or risk communication at the service of a social control and surveillance agenda, namely, the one embodied by anti-doping.