At Paralympics, officials on guard for wheelchair athletes who self-harm for performance boost

Some Paralympians are prepared to break a toe for victory.

Some Paralympians are prepared to break a toe for victory.

Others have stabbed their legs, sat on needles and ripped out catheters, all for the sake of gaining an edge.

It’s called “boosting,” and the effects can increase an athlete’s performance by as much as 10 per cent. As a result, officials will be testing for it at the Paralympic Games, which open Wednesday in London, England.

“It’s more pronounced in the top levels, but any athlete who is competitive might want that competitive edge,” said Chris Gee, who has coached and worked with disabled athletes in Canada. The GTA-based Gee wouldn’t divulge names but said he knows of several athletes at the Games who have boosted in the past.

Simply put, boosting athletes cause themselves pain they can’t feel in order to increase their heart rate and blood pressure.

The technique only works for athletes with severe spinal cord injuries. When these athletes exercise, their heart rates don’t rise, nor will their blood pressure.

Boosting is dangerous because the athletes don’t feel anything, yet their body is reacting. The resulting spike in blood pressure can lead to a fast race — or stroke or heart attack.

“It’s an extreme thing to do and we have to constantly remind athletes it’s very dangerous,” Craig Spence, a spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee, told the Associated Press.

These athletes are, in essence, tricking their own bodies. It’s officially called autonomic dysreflexia. That is, a reflex that occurs when the lower part of their body is exposed to painful stimuli.

The committee banned boosting in 2004. At the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, 37 athletes thought to be at high risk of boosting were tested.

None came back positive.


Spence said there are only about 100 athletes at this year’s Paralympics who would benefit from boosting, given their disability and their event. And just a few will boost.

Gee said the most common form of boosting comes from a full bladder.

“They take the catheter out, and the bladder fills up,” said Gee, who works with Cruisers Sports, a sledge hockey organization in Peel and Halton regions. “This elicits a pain reaction, quickens the heart, raises blood pressure, and they’re primed for a big race.”

Boosting is rare in sledge hockey, mainly because many of its elite athletes do not have severe spinal cord injuries.

Testing, however, is problematic. Officials will examine athletes with symptoms of boosting, like a red face or sweating before the race. Athletes will also have their blood pressure measured.

Those found to have high blood pressure will be asked to wait about 10 minutes before another test. If their second test is the same, they won't be allowed to race for health reasons.

“There’s a limit to how we can test for this,” Spence said. “We can't really ask people to drop their trousers so we can check there’s nothing unusual in there,” he said, noting they have found competitors who stuck pins into their testicles to get the desired effect.

Spence said those suspected of boosting aren’t penalized in the same way as those caught doping. “Their punishment is they can’t compete unless they have a doctor’s certificate to explain why their blood pressure is high.”

Some say we shouldn’t expect Paralympic athletes to behave any differently than athletes in any other elite sport.

“To assume people in Paralympic sport won’t engage in whatever way they can to get an advantage is to put them on a pedestal,” said David Howe, a senior lecturer at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Britain’s Loughborough University.

“Just because somebody has an impairment doesn’t mean they’re a virtuous person."

With files from The Associated Press