If leading athletes such as Ben Johnson and Lance Armstrong have been singled out for sports doping over the last few decades, it is partly thanks to her. Quebec chemist Christiane Ayotte, a leading figure in the fight against doping, officially announced her retirement on Friday.
A true pioneer in the field, Ayotte was head of the doping control laboratory of the National Research Institute (INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie) since 1991.
After 35 years, Ayotte decided to turn the page on an exceptional career. A well-considered decision that could have been taken earlier, had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have been retired since 1er May, but I am still in the process of transferring my files to my colleagues, first explained the tireless worker in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press earlier this week. I would have taken it sooner, especially since I know the laboratory is in good hands. »
The Director General of INRS, Luc-Alain Giraldeau, also made a point of emphasizing Ayotte’s immense contribution to this sphere of activity.
“With her cutting-edge expertise, determination and integrity, Christiane Ayotte created what has become a model for all anti-doping laboratories around the world. His achievements and remarkable career are a source of immense pride for our university establishment and its community,” Giraldeau said in a press release.
Professor Jean-François Naud, a close collaborator of the researcher, will succeed her at the head of this cutting-edge infrastructure in the fight against sports doping. He has been deputy director of the laboratory since the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010.
Today, the INRS doping control laboratory is the only laboratory in Canada accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In recent years, up to 35,000 samples have been processed there to detect the use of prohibited substances, notably for the Canadian anti-doping program in partnership with the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sports.
However, all of this could not have come to fruition without the contribution of Ayotte, who was particularly noted for his work during the 1980s, including that on the detection of steroids by mass spectrometry. A technique which is still used today to catch athletes who are trying to obtain a competitive advantage by consuming prohibited substances.
“Everything had to be done, there was practically nothing in the scientific literature, and I had a lot of fun developing that,” she underlined, referring to her work which has shaped the modern fight against doping. .
For the past month, therefore, Ayotte has taken the time to reflect on the extent of the progress made since the first beginnings of the fight against doping, and of his contribution to the cause.
“I was able to participate in all of that: the arrival of techniques, of computing, with the power of everything we have now. I have been at the forefront of the evolution (of the fight against doping), and now we can detect tiny quantities of doping agents, which was obviously not the case in the 1980s and even 1990s. “I was really privileged to witness all of this,” admitted the woman who received the prestigious René Dussault prize for her entire career last week.
She also considers herself privileged to have been able to contribute to the arrival of WADA in Montreal in 2001, “which really helped to synchronize and harmonize the fight against doping”.
The rest is history: the expertise of Montreal researchers in anti-doping testing has been recognized around the world for several decades already.
See the glass half full
The fact remains that despite all the efforts made by Ayotte and his scientific colleagues, the cheaters are always one step ahead of those who try to catch them.
Asked if it was a matter of principle for her, and if a certain moral burden accompanied the task of constantly being on the trail of cheaters without ever really catching them, Ayotte declared that she never give up. Although, she admitted, there were days when despair overwhelmed her.
“The improvement in the timing of anti-doping tests and techniques gives me the impression, overall, that we have succeeded in reducing the potential dangers to the health and integrity of athletes. We can no longer do doping as we did in the 80s, 90s and even at the beginning of 2000, particularly in terms of blood doping. […] So I have the satisfaction of telling myself that the glass is not half empty, but rather half full,” she said.
“What saddens me, however, is not so much the athletes themselves, but the supply of doping products, which is much greater than 40 years ago – it’s still incredible! Everything on the internet is so easy it’s frustrating. The doping supply is unfortunately so strong today that it counterbalances the efforts that are being made,” she explained.
Another factor that could have an immense impact in the fight against sports doping in the coming decades is artificial intelligence. A double-edged sword, according to Ayotte.
“I am not an artificial intelligence specialist. It can be an interesting technological development, but it does not sort, or discern, the information, she mentioned. How now can this be used to divert ways of reaching athletes, to thwart anti-doping tests? That remains to be seen. […] There could therefore be deviations, but I see the positive side that it can bring us – provided, of course, that it is well supervised, in particular by clear regulations. »
This battle will however fall to the new generations, “and who knows, maybe they will succeed in taking this to where we have not succeeded”.
In the immediate future, however, the Quebecer intends to catch her breath and enjoy life, after having lived at a frenetic pace for more than three decades.
“I have been a serious, hard-working, diligent woman for 35 years now, a chemist on two legs. I’ve always had a strict schedule, I’ve always been overwhelmed, so my immediate dream is to reach the blank page. This blank page which will allow me to find myself and know for my last portion of life what I want to do. At the end of the day, I’m like an athlete at the end of my career,” she concluded, laughing.