Eliza. Yes Beta Blockers are on the banned drug list put out by World Anti Doping Association WADA but the WADA web site says that a TUE may be granted if the 3 conditions are met. 1) no significant advantage is gained over a competitor. 2) There is no alternative drug. & 3) withholding the drug would cause significant heath risks to the athlete.

The effect of a Beta blocker lowers the heart rate. So if 2 health athletes compete in shooting for example and one takes a beta blocker he will have a lower heart rate and an advantage. He would be cheating. However if a person that has had a heart attack and is on a beta-blocker, which is controlling his heart rate but not below that of the healthy athlete, and was shooting against a healthy shooter with a normal heart rate, would that be an advantage over the healthy athlete? I dont think it would.

Anti doping is there to catch cheats, but in doing so sometimes it also chucks out the athlete with a genuine medical condition. This should not happen if WADA follow their own rules and the athlete with medical documentation and testing can meet the 3 criteria.

The shooting disciplines that make up those in the Olympic/Commonwealth Games are precision target sports. Most people do not have the opportunity to watch these sports on the televised Olympics. Check out the link below if you’re interested in what the disciplines in the Olympics are like. Most people are understandably ignorant of the sport.
Sports are not sports because of the appeal they may have to viewers. Most people would agree that shooting is not a spectator sport ‘JR’…

Let’s see. What do the named sports have in common? Scantily clad people in their prime. In other words, broad mass/sex appeal with lucrative commercial opportunity. How about rednecks* gently cradling and squeezing their guns? I’ll pass, thanks.

*Gross generalization of participants, yet it’s a redneck sport so I’m not entirely apologetic.

Political correctness for you. Can’t show guns being used in a fun friendly way! There are pistol and rifle, air pistol and air rifle, as well as shotgun events in the Olympics.

But the pistol events do not use a 357 or 44 revolver as is shown in the article. They use specialized 22lr pistols that look like space guns due to their ergonomic design.

On a side note, the World Anti-Doping Agency bans beta-blockers not just in shooting and archery, but also some other competitive events like billiards, chess, and nine-pin bowling.

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/the-body/08-the-year-the-olympics-went-really-hi-tech/