Illegal drugs are widespread throughout Australian sport and are being facilitated by sports scientists, high-level coaches and sports staff, a 12-month investigation by the Australian Crime Commission has found.

Organised crime groups are also involved in the frequent practice which, in some cases, see players administered with substances not yet approved for human use.

The ACC also found evidence of "concerning" personal relationships between professional athletes and crime identities and groups that may have resulted in match fixing and the fraudulent manipulation of betting markets.


Here are the key findings of Project Aperio:

The investigation identified widespread use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in professional sport.

It also found that this use has been facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff.

In some cases, players are being administered with substances that have not yet been approved for human use.

The ACC also identified organised crime identities and groups that are involved in the distribution of PIEDs to athletes and professional sports staff.

The ACC report notes increasing evidence of personal relationships of concern between professional athletes and organised criminal identities and groups. This may have resulted in match fixing and the fraudulent manipulation of betting markets.

The report concluded that some coaches, sports scientists and support staff of elite athletes have orchestrated and/or condoned the use of prohibited substances.

The Australian Crime Commission also found that illicit drug use by professional athletes is more prevalent than previously indicated in official sports drug testing program statistics.

The responses

The Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) has agreed to several measures to assist the crackdown.

The Coalition represents all the major sporting organisations in Australia, including the AFL, NRL, FFA, ARU and Cricket Australia.

The individual bodies are to:

Establish integrity units to deal with doping, betting and ethical issues.

Co-operate with ASADA and law enforcement agencies in a joint investigation.

Call on their athletes to come forward and own up to wrongdoing and co-operate with investigators to possibly reduce sanctions.

Enact a multi-code policy to share information and implement doping sanctions across codes.

Have zero tolerance for any support staff involved in pedalling inappropriate substances and help ensure they are not employed in other codes.