In three decades no other woman has matched it—leading some observers to assume it might have been helped by steroids. The current quickest woman in the world, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, from Jamaica, has managed simply 10.63 seconds—and that with assistance from special, high-tech sneakers. Athletes dope because medication supply huge advantages—potentially so big that un-doped rivals don’t have any hope of matching them. WADA, the principles of which bind many sports activities, maintains a list of hundreds of banned substances. They range from obscure chemical substances with names like IGF-1 LR3 and AOD-9604 to insulin , amphetamines and even diuretics . The clandestine nature of doping implies that, for most medicine, there could be little hard proof for his or her effect on performance. Athletes are pressured to rely as an alternative on locker-room rumours and “street knowledge”, says Chris Cooper, a sports activities scientist on the University of Essex, a lot of which will most likely be exaggerated.

Other Egyptian sports activities included javelin throwing, excessive jump, and wrestling. Ancient Persian sports activities similar to the traditional Iranian martial art of Zoorkhaneh had a detailed connection to warfare skills. Among different sports activities that originated in historic Persia are polo …