Doping hasn't helped athletes: research

Doping has damaged the image of sport without significantly improving performances, researchers say.

An investigation by the University of Adelaide has collated records for male and female athletes across 26 sports between 1886 and 2012.

Researchers made comparisons between pre-1932 records, when steroids became available, and those since and found that times, distances and other results didn't improve as much as expected in the doping era.

Lead author Aaron Hermann says the investigation centred on some of the most controlled and popular sports including various track and field events like the 100m sprints, hurdles, high jump, long jump and shot-put, as well as winter sports like speed skating and ski jumping.

"The average records for doped athletes did not differ significantly from those considered not to have doped," he said.

"Even assuming that not all cases of doping were discovered during this time, the practice of doping did not improve sporting results as commonly believed."

Dr Hermann said he hoped the findings would change the perception among some athletes that they need to take performance enhancing substances to be competitive.