The Int'l Paralympic Committee is to "crack down on cheating in Rio as it introduces new tests to prevent boosting, a banned performance-enhancing practice which seeks to give Paralympic competitors an edge but puts them at risk from strokes or even cardiac arrest," according to Gareth Davies of the London TELEGRAPH. Boosting increases the blood pressure and heart rate in para-athletes suffering from spinal cord injuries, with IPC research in Canada "showing it can increase performance" by up to 25%. It involves para-athletes "using often extreme ways to shock the body into producing an effect" similar to adrenaline. For the first time, the IPC will ban from competing "any para-athlete found to have a systolic blood pressure of 160 mmHg just before their event is to begin." The IPC "considers boosting by para-athletes a method of cheating, the equivalent of able-bodied athletes using designer steroids to enhance performance in the Olympics." One expert has previously suggested that a third of competitors with spinal injuries at the Paralympic Games "may be harming themselves to boost performance" (TELEGRAPH, 9/6).
