U.S. Anti-Doping Agency

Doping, the use of drugs to enhance performance in sports, has existed since ancient times. Only relatively recently, however, have organizations been created to regulate the use of drugs in sport; such organizations include the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). USADA is a not-for-profit nongovernmental organization and the national antidoping organization of the [Page 1496]United States. It aims to preserve fair play and protect the safety of athletes.

According to some sources, the word dop was used by Zulu warriors to denote an alcoholic beverage taken as a stimulant during religious ceremonies, and this word may be the root of the present-day term doping. Doping in sports took place at least as early as the time of the ancient Greeks, whose ...