Incidents of doping in sports are common in news headlines, despite regulatory efforts. How did doping become a crisis? What does a doping violation actually entail? Who gets punished for breaking the rules of fair play? In , Kathryn E. Henne, a former competitive athlete and an expert in the law and science of anti-doping regulation, examines the development of rules aimed at controlling performance enhancement in international sports.

As international and celebrated figures, athletes are powerful symbols, yet few spectators realize that a global regulatory network is in place in an attempt to ensure ideals of fair play. The athletes caught and punished for doping are not always the ones using performance-enhancing drugs to cheat. In the case of female athletes, violations of fair play can stem from their inherent biological traits.

combines historical and ethnographic approaches to offer a compelling account of the origins and expansion of anti-doping regulation and gender-verification rules. Drawing on research conducted in Australasia, Europe, and North America, Henne details how race, gender, class, and postcolonial formations of power shape these ideas and regulatory practices. makes a convincing case to rethink the power of regulation in sports and how it separates athletes as a distinct class of citizens subject to a unique set of rules because of their physical attributes and abilities.