Athletes will be tested for the presence of nicotine at the Olympics..

Finally there is a good reason to quit smoking. The governing body overseeing regulation of drugs at the Olympics, WADA, has included nicotine on the list of monitored substances. The inclusion on the monitoring list occurred almost a year ago however the 2012 London Olympics will be the first where nicotine levels of athletes will be monitored.

From the WADA website:

"In order to detect potential patterns of abuse, nicotine has been placed on WADA’s 2012 Monitoring Program.
It is NOT WADA’s intention to target smokers, rather to monitor the effects nicotine can have on performance when taken in oral tobacco products such as snus."

Nicotine is an addictive stimulant found in tobacco products and is therefore in a class of WADA banned substances. Classes of banned performance enhancing drugs have been previously outlined on the Bayblab.

 From Sports Illustrated:

The performance-enhancing effects of nicotine included increased "vigilance and cognitive function," and reduced stress and body weight.

The possibility that it is being used as such in sports such as hockey and rugby is indicated by the higher incidence of use by athletes of these sports. Unfortunately this is complicated by the fact that nicotine use could be a part of the culture of some sports.

Ashtrays are scarce on the track.