<P> During the early 20th century , many Olympic athletes discovered ways to improve their athletic abilities by boosting testosterone . As their methods became more extreme , it became increasingly evident that the use of performance - enhancing drugs was not only a threat to the integrity of sport but could also have potentially fatal side effects on the athlete . The only Olympic death linked to athletic drug use occurred at the Rome Games of 1960 . During the cycling road race , Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died . A coroner 's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamine , which had caused him to lose consciousness during the race . Jensen 's death exposed to the world how endemic drug use was among elite athletes . By the mid -- 1960s , sports federations were starting to ban the use of performance - enhancing drugs , and the IOC followed suit in 1967 . </P>
<P> During the early 20th century , many Olympic athletes discovered ways to improve their athletic abilities by boosting testosterone . As their methods became more extreme , it became increasingly evident that the use of performance - enhancing drugs was not only a threat to the integrity of sport but could also have potentially fatal side effects on the athlete . The only Olympic death linked to athletic drug use occurred at the Rome Games of 1960 . During the cycling road race , Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died . A coroner 's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamine , which had caused him to lose consciousness during the race . Jensen 's death exposed to the world how endemic drug use was among elite athletes . By the mid -- 1960s , sports federations were starting to ban the use of performance - enhancing drugs , and the IOC followed suit in 1967 . </P>
when did drug testing start in the olympics
when did drug testing start in the olympics
1967
1967