SLJ Talks to Caroline Hatton about Doping in Sports

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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 5/7/2008 2:10:00 PM

It’s not often that kids get to see science in action, and that’s exactly what author/scientist Caroline Hatton had in mind when she wrote The Night Olympic Team (Boyds Mills, 2008). The book takes readers behind the scenes at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to see how lab scientists catch athletes on performance-enhancing drugs. SLJ caught up with Hatton to talk about doping in sports, just in time for the summer Olympics in Beijing.

What was it like being a member of the Night Olympic Team?
It was a thrill. I got to spend a few weeks in the constant company of not only my “home” lab teammates, but also other world authorities in anti-doping science—brilliant, quirky characters. Every night behind the closed doors of the lab, my job, along with a few others, was to make darn sure that test results were correct…by trying to shoot them down. We spent hours thinking out loud and spurring each other’s imagination. It was like a dream science camp.

How stressful was it to work under such a tight deadline?
Olympic deadlines put lab scientists under conflicting pressures: they want to report results asap yet take the necessary time to ascertain that the results are correct. Fortunately, the team members support each other in keeping priorities straight, and first making sure that the science is solid. By far the highest stress at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City was caused by having to decide whether or not to report NESP [a substance that stimulates production of red blood cells] positives for the first time ever. 

Tell us about the night your team discovered NESP in an athlete's urine.
When the lab director, Dr. Don Catlin, handed me a printed image and my brain cells grasped what it meant, it was quite an adrenaline jolt because it was not only the first time that NESP might be reported, but it was also at the Olympics, with the whole world waiting for results! Our team’s collective thinking kicked into high gear, white-hot. My heartbeat went into pounding mode and never slowed down until three days after the closing ceremonies. I became unable to sit still. The responsibility for reporting any drug finding is huge, but we embrace it wholeheartedly as a team and as individuals because we know it’s in good hands.

Did you feel bad about someone’s career being ruined?
We don’t ruin the career of an athlete who cheats; he or she does that to himself or herself. Our job is to report the truth. A doper who was caught has damaged not only his or her own career, but also those of clean competitors as well as the reputation of their sport and the very spirit of sport. 

That’s not to say that finding a drug in a sample doesn’t cause mixed feelings. It’s a success because we scientists did a good job and didn’t miss a drug that was present. But it’s also a failure because the system failed to keep the athlete from using the drug in the first place and to protect honest athletes from having to compete against an athlete on a drug, and because many characteristics of our world drive athletes to dope. 

With the Beijing Olympics coming up, is there any way to ensure that an Olympics can be drug free?
The escalation in the use of new drugs as doping agents has accelerated for years and made it a growing challenge for drug testers to keep up. I can’t imagine any practical way to ensure that an Olympics is 100 percent drug free. There’s no way to prove it. Even if all drug tests were negative, we could never be certain that no prohibited drug was used.

Why write a children’s book on this subject?
I wanted to provide children with accessible information before they make decisions about doping, although unfortunately some of them are being doped by adults around them. I also wanted to reach into the future and address tomorrow’s thought leaders. Some kids can grasp complex issues, have insights, and be highly idealistic. Kids who talk about drugs in sports exercise their critical thinking, have a better chance of becoming savvy consumers of health products, and are better equipped to maintain health and fitness through a smart lifestyle.

How dangerous is steroid use in high school sports?
Anabolic steroid abuse is especially dangerous for young people, whose natural growth and maturation is not yet complete. The possible reasons for abuse go beyond sports performance enhancement and can include an inappropriate desire to alter looks. Doping agents in general and anabolic steroids in particular are unanimously considered harmful to the young. Perhaps the worrying question is why drug use can start at a young age. What role models and values do we—as a society and as families—present to kids?

Do you think many girls will be inspired to become scientists after reading your book?
Yes, I would like them to see that science offers opportunities and challenges—even heart-pounding excitement and drama—with immediate and important consequences to other human beings.