Banned But Allowed: Inside the World of Therapeutic Use Exemptions in Sport / Pogacar's Dominance / World Indoor Championships

Banned But Allowed: Inside the World of Therapeutic Use Exemptions in Sport / Pogacar's Dominance / World Indoor Championships

From The Real Science of Sport Podcast by Professor Ross Tucker and Mike Finch

March 25, 2026 · 1h 31m

About this episode

The episode discusses Therapeutic Use Exemptions in sports, highlights Pogacar's cycling achievements, and reviews recent sports events including the World Indoor Championships.

Become a member, keep us ad free! Plus, you get access to our world-class community chat, and live sport chat groups. Become a supporter for a small monthly pledge at Patreon. Show notes Today the Spotlight falls on Therapeutic Use Exemptions, or TUEs, that are given to athletes when they have a medical condition that requires the use of an otherwise banned substance. Last week, the International Testing Agency published the record of TUE applications for 56 sports, going back six years, and we cast our eye on some of the notable drugs, sports and cases. We explore why Growth Hormone TUEs are prevalent in gymnastics, why stimulants top the list of substances, and open up some philosophical conversations about whether TUEs should be allowed at all? Also in the show, a 'triathlon' of sports news, starting with cycling recaps of Milan San Remo where Pogacar produced an extraordinary display of dominance to win one of the two monuments missing from his resume, and from the Cape Epic, where women raced shorter distances than men this year, and we explore how the rationale for this is a little shaky. From the track, we look back at the World Indoor Championships from Poland, and in the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Professor Ross Tucker, Mike Finch

Topics covered

  • Therapeutic Use Exemptions
  • Athlete performance
  • Cycling news
  • World Indoor Championships
  • Sports ethics

Keywords

  • Therapeutic Use Exemptions
  • TUEs
  • Pogacar
  • Milan San Remo
  • World Indoor Championships
  • sports news
  • athlete performance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: International Testing Agency

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