Blood Doping

Blood doping (or "blood manipulation") is a prohibited method of improving performance by artificially boosting the blood's ability to carry oxygen to the muscles. The three widely used types are:

1. Blood transfusions — the most basic way to raise haemoglobin. There are two forms: autologous blood doping (transfusing the athlete's own blood, stored refrigerated or frozen until needed) and homologous blood doping (transfusing blood taken from another person of the same blood type).
2. Injections of erythropoietin (EPO) — EPO is a peptide hormone released naturally by the kidneys that acts on the bone marrow to stimulate red-blood-cell production; athletes inject it to raise their red-cell concentration and aerobic capacity.
3. Injections of synthetic oxygen carriers — chemicals (such as perfluorocarbons and haemoglobin-based oxygen carriers) that transport and deliver oxygen to tissues, used to gain the same oxygen-boosting effect.

Why athletes misuse it

Oxygen delivery to working muscle is one of the main physiological limits on endurance performance, so raising the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity directly raises how long and how hard an athlete can sustain aerobic effort — this is exactly why blood doping has historically been concentrated in endurance sports such as cycling and long-distance running, where even a small gain in aerobic capacity translates into a real competitive advantage over hours of racing.

Detection and WADA status …