Why elite athletes take supplements — Report

Supplements have become a routine part of elite sport, with athletes using products such as creatine, protein powders, vitamin D, and carbohydrate gels to support performance, recovery, and nutrition.

Creatine, once viewed with suspicion when it emerged among elite athletes at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, is now one of the most widely used and scientifically researched sports supplements.

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Its rise illustrates how the search for small performance gains has changed elite sport, where athletes and teams increasingly examine every aspect of preparation, from nutrition and training to recovery and sleep.

Prof Graeme Close, professor of human physiology at Liverpool John Moores University, said some studies suggest that as many as 90% of athletes use supplements.

“The sports teams that I’ve worked in, I think that’s probably closer to 100% of athletes will be taking some form of supplementation,” he said.

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Creatine’s rise in elite sport

Creatine occurs naturally in the human body and is also found in foods such as meat and fish. It provides a rapid source of energy for muscles and is particularly relevant to short-duration, high-intensity activities such as sprinting.

Its breakthrough in elite sport came in the 1990s after scientists studying creatine shared their findings with Steve Jennings, whose Maxim sports nutrition company supplied products to the British Olympic team.

During the 1992 Barcelona Games, investigative reporter Doug Gillon reported on a trial involving British athletes using Ergomax C150, effervescent creatine tablets.

At the time, claims that creatine could improve explosive athletic performance by 1-3% attracted attention. By the 1996 Olympics, an estimated 80% of athletes were using creatine.