The Emergence of Moral Technopreneurialism in Sport: Techniques in Anti-Doping Regulation, 1966–1976

Abstract

This article focuses on the early work of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission's anti-doping policies as a unique form of moral entrepreneurship. As the concept suggests, the Medical Commission's rule-making power relied, in part, on members' expertise and their status as elites. It also came to depend upon technopreneurialism, that is, entrepreneurial scientific innovation, particularly in relation to methods of detecting evidence of doping. Attending to these distinctions, this article argues that these early efforts reveal the emergence of ‘moral technopreneurialism’. By this, I refer to how technological developments serve and, in turn, shape anti-doping goals. Through an analysis of primary IOC documents and archival materials housed in Lausanne, Switzerland, this article considers how the Medical Commission implemented testing to detect evidence of doping from the mid-1960s through the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. These Games mark the introduction of anabolic steroids testing, which is noteworthy because the events leading up to it illustrate how policy-makers pushed for urgent scientific development, now an accepted trope in the fight against doping. This article concludes with a reflection on how technopreneurialism has culturally impacted the institutionalisation of the moral crusade against doping in sport.