In the 60 minutes long documentary we learn that it is possible to use EPO microdoses to avoid having a suspicious biological profile and thus not testing positive, even though the athlete are doping. We also learn that it is possible to use Therapeutic Usage Exceptions (TUE) to be allowed to use prohibited substances even though you ought not to use the substance. Finally we learn that the athletes respect for the coach or entourage is often the reason why there might be less reporting from athletes to the Anti-Doping Agencies on suspicious behaviours of these entourages. Using EPO Daly is a fit reporter. He trains regularly and in the first part of the show he is preparing for a CO2 Max-test which shows how fit he is as a clean athlete. He starts the preparation with a period of three weeks where he is not using any prohibited substances. The results was a CO2 max of 58, which is quite good. Then after this period he is using EPO which he has ordered from China. The process is following closely by a doctor so he is healthy. During the period where he is using EPO, he stops riding with friends. After four weeks using EPO micro-doses he is doing the CO2 max test again, and the result is a CO2 gain of five (to 63). - The depressing thing about the period where I was living and thinking as a cheat, was how easy it was. David Howman, Chief Executive at WADA, says that the study is of concern for WADA: - It is of concern for us that you can manipulate the body to beat the passport program. TUE and testosterone cream Together with reporter David Epstein in ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. With the aid of Epstein, Daly went to USA to find out more about coach Alberto Salazar. Daly had gotten tip of the American coach giving his athletes prohibited substances or using prohibited methods. Salazar is the coach of long distance runners Olympic Gold Medallist Mo Farah of UK and US Silver Medallist Galen Rupp. He is also the head coach of the Nike Oregon Project (NOP), and he is also signed as an advisor for UK Athletics. The 56 year old coach is a living legend in the sport of athletics. Salazar won the New York Marathon three years in a row from 1980-82, and finished 15th in the 1984 Olympics marathon in Los Angeles, according to Sportal.co.nz. What BBC-reporter Daly learns from athletes who has left the program, is that the coach suggests to athletes to use testosterone in micro-doses. He also learns that Salazar experiments with testosterone cream to find out how much or little can be used without being caught. The explanation was that they were worried that someone would sabotage the team by using a testosterone cream on any of the athletes. Athletes respect In the documentary we hear from Kara Goucher who stayed in the NOP for seven years. During these years she who won a bronze medal in the 10K at the 2007 world championships. - For years, he was a super important person in my life, she says of Salazar. - I mean, I literally loved him. I loved him. He was like a father figure to me. Kara Goucher lost her own father when she was four when he was killed by a drunk driver, according to ProPublica. WADA Statement on BBC Panorama Programme We acknowledge that the programme also raises questions regarding the ability of athletes to dope by taking minimal amounts of performance enhancing substances without testing positive, otherwise known as ‘micro-dosing’. It is an issue that we are exploring in great detail with experts from across the anti-doping community, and indeed it was highlighted in the recent Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) Report. Due to short detection periods for EPO and certain other banned substances, we now know that tests need to be carried out before competition and in certain circumstances overnight (from 11:00pm – 06:00am) as is set out in WADA’s revised International Standard for Testing. While the programme suggests that the journalist, through his experiment, was able to enhance his performance without recording an adverse analytical finding (AAF), we haven’t been provided any information that would validate this allegation nor is there anything in the programme which would indicate that his profile would have “beaten” the ABP programme.