The Tainted Podium: Doping in Swimming, Combat Sports, and Track and Field (1970-2025) The Erosion of Trust The 20th century witnessed an unprecedented professionalization of sport, bringing with it immense pressures for athletes and nations to achieve supremacy. This intense competitive landscape, fuelled by national pride, political ideologies, and burgeoning financial incentives, inadvertently created fertile ground for doping. What began as whispers of individual transgressions escalated into state-sponsored programs, fundamentally altering the competitive equilibrium and leaving a lasting scar on the integrity of athletic accomplishment. As Sebastian Coe , a former Olympic gold medalist and current President of World Athletics, starkly puts it, "Doping is a cancer that eats away at the very heart of sport." This deep dive will explore the insidious spread of doping across swimming, combat sports, and track and field, examining the distinct approaches and profound i...