Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa has warned in its latest Disruptor Scan of the growing use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by young Kiwis. Photo / 123rf
Sports bosses have warned about the growing rise of young athletes and other Kiwi youth using banned performance-enhancing drugs.
They include anabolic steroids, peptides and other stimulants.
And not all of their increasing use is to try to gain an edge in the sporting arena, with Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa, a Crown entity responsible for leading the play, active recreation and sport sector in New Zealand, saying some of their use was driven by “social media body ideals”.
The increase in the use of the banned stimulants features in a wide-ranging “Disruptor Scan” document from Sport NZ; a newly released paper that also looks at the impact on the sports sector of other factors, including the conflict in Iran, artificial intelligence (AI), public funding and the cost of living.
The document said there were “reports from sports medicine and youth health practitioners of rising performance-enhancing drug use”.
Those reports “underscore the need for stronger safeguarding, harm reduction pathways, and access to clinical and wellbeing support across community sport”, the paper stated.
“Social and health pressures around bodies, drugs and safety are intensifying for participants, with mixed signals on protection and support,” Sport NZ said.
“Steroid and other performance/image-enhancing drug use has surged in Australia and is rising in Aotearoa, driven by social media body ideals, easy online supply and a lack of clear clinical guidelines for safe cessation or harm-reduction support.
“Drug-checking services report more performance-enhancing substances, underscoring growing risks for both community gym-goers and aspiring athletes.”
The perils of rising performance-enhancing drug use were listed under the heading “Growing athlete and participant safety risks”.
Talking generally about athlete and participant risks, Sport NZ said: “Expectations of duty of care are rising across the system.
“Clubs, coaches and regional bodies need clearer escalation pathways, minimum safeguarding standards, and links to clinical services – and will require resourcing to implement them.”
The comments from Sport NZ come 11 months after Sport Integrity Commission chief executive Rebecca Rolls talked to the Herald about how ambitions and talent-spotting at a younger age could impact on more younger athletes doping.
That included taking known and banned performance-enhancing drugs, as well as taking supplements that they didn’t realise contained ingredients that are on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list.
“The pressure to succeed, get that contract or stand out to that scout at your high school game is [affecting] people who are much, much younger,” Rolls said.
The commission’s own research showed some sports supplements available online and in shops in New Zealand contained banned ingredients.
A peer-reviewed drug testing and analysis study that looked at 200 products available in Australia also revealed one in three supplements there contained substances banned in sport.
Almost 60% of the supplements containing banned substances failed to list their presence on product labels.
And a smaller study by Consumer NZ in 2022 found six products aimed at sportspeople and for sale at supplement stores contained illegal drugs.
“Young people, anyone really, might not be intentionally doping. But ... it is getting more and more risky for them,” Rolls said
Among other major issues Sport NZ has identified in its latest three-monthly “Disruptor Scan” is the ongoing Iran conflict.
That includes disruptions it is already having on the sporting community – including in New Zealand – and the further unrest it could create if the conflict continues further.
“With oil potentially reaching US$130–150 [$221-$255] per barrel if the conflict persists, the viability of international commitments – tours, events, talent pathways – is under material pressure,” it said.
The financial costs were wide-ranging and not just restricted to pushing up oil and gas prices, including “destabilising global markets”.
“This is fuelling inflation, complicating central bank plans to cut rates and tightening already-constrained public budgets,” the Disruptor Scan stated.
“Flight cancellations and rerouting across Gulf hubs are delaying or relocating events, stranding athletes and lifting insurance, security and travel costs for international sport.”
Sport NZ has also published a separate report solely on the Middle East crisis, titled The Iran Conflict: Implications for the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Sector.
It outlines a range of implications for sport in New Zealand including saying “rising operating and travel costs will pressure organisations, potentially reducing participation in cost-intensive activities and international programmes if not actively managed”.
The arrival of specialist sports equipment and technology also risked delays because of travel logistics.
The document listed “priority actions” for sports leaders included integrating “geopolitical shocks” such as the Iran conflict into “risk registers, financial modelling and scenario tested business cases – especially for long-haul travel and major capital projects”.
Another recommendation to sports officials was to “develop at least one ‘lean, local’ operating model and low-cost participation offer that can be activated quickly if travel or funding are constrained”.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 34 years of newsroom experience.
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