Doping in sport is rapidly becoming one of the most controversial issues in sport. It is an issue that is inherent and anti-doping authorities can only do so much to reduce the problem. Recent scandals suggest that even the most famous and successful athletes will come under scrutiny from anti-doping agencies with regard to their preparation before competition, their actions during competition and even their activity when they are not competing.

The effectiveness of the policies put in place by anti-doping agencies have been put into question.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was formed in 2004 to combat the issue of doping in sport. An anti-doping policy was then created which outlined banned substances and the criteria that these substances had to come under in order to be considered for the banned list. This list is updated every year, which often catches some athletes out.

Take Maria Sharapova for example. She was provisionally banned earlier this year after she tested positive for meldonium, a substance she had been taking for health issues for more than 10 years. The former Wimbledon champion initially stated that her doctor prescribed the drug under another name and she had no idea that she was using a prohibited substance. However, it is also reported that she forgot to click on the link on the e-mail that WADA had sent which updated athletes on changes to the prohibited list.

Sharapova has just been handed a two year ban by the ITF following her tribunal, which stated is unfair and will appeal against it.

More recently, Liverpool defender and cult hero, Mamadou Sakho, tested positive for a fat burning drug and was subsequently banned for 30 days. This in turn means that the Frenchman will miss out on playing for his country at Euro 2016. It is unclear however, that this substance is actually on the banned list and an investigation is underway by UEFA in an attempt to clarify if the fat burner is on the list or not.

So, does the fault lie completely with the athletes who test positive or do WADA have to change their policies in order to make it easier to understand which substances are banned?

In my opinion it is a combination of the two. Professional sport can be a short career and therefore athletes must be fully aware of the substances that they are putting in their body and the consequences they face if they are caught using a performance enhancing drug. Ignorance is not a reasonable excuse for failing a drugs test. As well as a personal responsibility, some more prominent athletes have a full team of advisors and medical professionals who should be clued up on what is and what isn’t banned, so there is no reason that an athlete should be able to use the excuse that they unknowingly took a banned substance.

On the other hand, WADA have a responsibility to make sure that all athletes completely understand anti-doping policies and the substances that are on the prohibited list. Many of the performance enhancing drugs have a number of different scientific names, making it difficult for athletes to understand which drugs they can and cant take.

All in all, the effectiveness of anti-doping policies remains in the balance and something clearly needs to be done in order to reduce the volume of athletes who test positive for performance enhancing drugs.