Sport and sporting competitions play an important role in our society, with high-level athletes frequently being held up as role models. Physical exercise is a classic triggering factor for asthma and regular physical activity is essential to maintain a good quality of life during the course of chronic diseases such as asthma and allergies. Several epidemiological surveys have revealed an abnormally high prevalence of asthma and allergies in individuals involved in competitive sports compared with the general population. The risk of asthma varies in accordance with the type of sport practised. High-level athletes, particularly Olympic athletes, practising endurance sports such as swimming, running and winter sports, are at high risk for asthma and allergies. However, sportsmen regularly practising physical activities at a less intense level are also subject to risk. Allergic rhinitis occurs around twice as frequently in elite sportsmen. The author reviews the physiopathological mechanisms of asthnia and rhinitis in athletes and the treatment thereof, particularly in competitive athletes. In this population, a certain number of medicines ordinarily used by normal subjects with asthma and allergic rhinitis are in fact on the list of banned substances. On 29 September 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) issued a list of these substances for 2017. Since their creation in 2007, therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) have enabled athletes to follow treatments containing such banned substances. However, certain observers, including some athletes, consider this practice to be a form of disguised doping. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.