Pierre de Coubertin, Doped ‘Amateurs’ and the ‘Spirit of Sport’: The Role of Mythology in Olympic Anti-Doping Policies

Abstract

The central justification for the prohibition of drugs in the Olympic Games is that drugs are contrary to the ‘spirit of sport’. This paper considers the ‘spirit of sport’ claim by placing Olympic ideals in their full, historical relief. The central thesis is that the recent prohibition against performance-enhancing substances based on the ideal of the ‘spirit of sport’ is in fact part of a much longer historical project to proffer an image of the Olympics as a ‘pure’ form of sport. The ideals and ‘foundation myths’ of Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin are first used as a comparative point upon which to study major changes to Olympic sport in the twentieth century and the construction of anti-doping policies. Coubertin built his system of myths around sport from three epochs: ancient, medieval and modern. The study then moves on to consider two important historical periods in the Olympic movement: the first three decades of the twentieth century and the period from just after WWII to the early 1970s. During both time periods, major challenges to Coubertin's original foundation myths are considered alongside attempts on the part of the International Olympic Committee to sanction performance-enhancing substances and methods. The foundation myths upon which Coubertin built his movement are also essential elements of anti-doping regulations.