Doping is part of the sport. In the last years, doping became a main topic in media during the Olympics and world championships in different sports. Athletes must live with a hard controlling system built up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Doping is on the agenda not only in high performance sports. At universities and in daily sport drug abuse is common. Therefore doping prevention became an important task for sport organizations and university sport.



Fabian Marx, student at Technical University Dresden (Germany), is connected with sport. Even he doesn’t do sport on a high performance level, Fabian rides his bike in summer and goes out on his cross country skies in winter several hours per week. He likes the movement. Of course the 20-years old German follows the top athletes in a lot of sports.



Three weeks ago he participated in an education program by German Sports Youth (DSJ) to become an Anti-Doping Junior Ambassador. “I didn’t know a lot about doping and doping mentality before the education program, although it was thematised in sport coverage. In my point of view, doing prevention is clarification about doping and its impact in sport. It’s very important that every athlete can make his individual opinion about this”, Fabian says.



Educate and encourage young athletes to speak about doping and understand its purview in sport, this is professor doctor Gerhard Treutlein’s mission. He developed the education program by German Sports Youth and reached more than 100 young people from Germany and Europe with his ideas. “The top-down-strategy, the WADA-Code, the controlling system and the punishments, couldn’t slow down the doping development in sports. Therefore we want to develop a bottom-up movement. We encourage young people to ask questions inside their federations and clubs. Only questions can start a positive development in the structure”, says Treutlein, who was member of the German delegation during 17 Universiades. His strategy is successful. The Anti-Doping Ambassadors from Germany organized several activities about doping prevention in clubs, federations and at universities. In addition an international education program took place from 2011 to 2013. In Burghausen, Innsbruck and Heidelberg, more than 40 young athletes from 13 countries participated in the European Anti-Doping Initiative. Together with six other national and international federations, EUSA was partner in this program.



Gerhard Treutlein follows the university sport from a special point of view. Even after his active career as professor at university of education Heidelberg and responsible person for Athletics in German university sports, Treutlein thinks a lot about the development in university sport. “In the last years a lot of universities have built up a fitness centre in its structure. Therefore doping prevention should be an important topic. It’s fatuous to think that every student is clean although they don’t do high performance sport”, says Treutlein. Fabian Marx underlines this argumentation. The student from Dresden sees some problems inside the universities and the society. “I’m sure that drug abuse is a problem at universities. The students take some pills to learn better or reach other goals. Unfortunately we don’t have a discussion about this topic. I think it’s very important to speak with students about drug abuse and give them more information”, says Marx, who studies civil engineering. In his point of view the university sport can be an opportunity to give students a chance to find diversion during their studies. “Sport itself is a very good prevention. People who do sport are fitter, stronger and more balanced than other people. They can handle stressful situations more effective and better. Nevertheless university sport should handle the topic doping open minded and speak with the students about it”, says Marx.



Doping and drug abuse are important topics in sport and at universities. Hence education and information are important. European University Sports Association (EUSA) supports clean sport and moves forward in this field. During the European Universities Games in Coimbra not only education, but also doping controls will take place. Doping prevention on every level should be a part of every athlete’s life.

Are you a student with an opinion? We are looking for new contributors for our student column every month. Feel free to contact stc@eusa.eu to offer a piece or propose a topic.