Hi! My name is Alexandra and I have decided to write about performance enhancing drugs in sports (doping). I think it is a very interesting subject. How people can use drugs to win an olympic gold or give it to competing animals. Why are they doing it? Do they feel such a pressure from family, leaders or a whole country maybe? Do they want to be best so much they are prepared to cheat?
Why are some countries more “famous” to have athletes using drugs that enhance performance. Do they not have enough doping tests? The people in that country might no see doping as a scandal?
Today sport commities all over the world are working hard to minimize the number of doped athletes. They have more doping tests and better instruments that shows very small substances of drugs in the blood. Unfortunatly, athletes finds new drugs that doesn’t show on doping tests.
When an athlete is caught with unallowable substances they got suspended. Sometimes for a couple of months, sometimes for a couple of years. It depends on what they have used. Different countries have different penalties. Maybe all contries should have the same penalty, maybe athletes should be suspended for life? The discussions are many.
In Sweden we see doping as huge scandal. If any of our athletes should be using drugs, the people would be very disappointed. We don’t accept it. It is not very common with Swedish doping scandals. I think the Swedish athletes sees doping in the same way as the rest of the people. We want to be best and win gold in fair play.
Hi! Larry is here reporting for duty. I have chosen “performance enhancing drugs in sports” as the subject of my essay. Today doping in sports is a very controversial issue with many people both supporting it and against it. Man has always used the mind to improve our standards of living whether it is creating spears to improve hunting or medicine to cure or prevent illness. But now we have reached a point where we are able to improve upon our bodies. People who oppose the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. Usually point out that it creates unfair situations in sports and is a health risk for the athletes. Another argument is that athletes that use these drugs indirectly force their competitors to use the drugs to. It is a waste of time competing if the athletes don’t follow the pre set rules of the sport and therefore doping is wrong.
Those that support the uses of performance enhancing drugs argue that athletes today compete in who is the best at hiding their use of the drugs because the use is so widespread. So legalizing or at least allowing the use in regulated forms would benefit sports. And regarding the danger of the use they argue that professional athlete’s rigorous and hard training regimes also are unhealthy and it is up to the athletes to choose what risks they want to take to be the best. There is also the fact that some of the drugs are not dangerous in responsible amounts and if used correctly.
In Sweden doping has been illegal since 1992 and I think the subject is very taboo as are many questionable moral issues In Sweden. And if a Swedish athlete is found to be doped I think they would lose all support from the public. I myself think the issue is complicated and hope to form my own opinion through writing this essay. Because I don’t think that the use of these drugs is completely wrong. I will focus on the moral issue. Whether it is right or wrong and how we might solve the problems we have now in sports. How is doping viewed in Italy it would be interesting to know about the issue from an Italian perspective.
Hi Larry, I'm Gianni from Pisa. In Italy the problem of doping is much complex because there aren't only pro athletes that use illegal drugs but, unfortunately, also amateur athlets. So, the use of performance enhancing drugs is quite widespread in our country. Even if the pro athletes are frequently controlled by own federations, new cases of doping are often discovered. Recently there are been two sensational doping cases in Italian cycling that have had a great resonance on the national media. Most of the Italian people think that performance enhancing with drugs is a very bad thing both for an ethical point of view and for an health one. But there is also a minority of people who think that an athlete could use illegal drugs to beat other athletes who use these drugs. Sports federations in collaboration with the government, in the last years, have intensified antidoping controls and social campaigns against illegal drugs but this problem hasn't been defeated yet.
Hi, nowadays it is impossible to define doping. A definition may be based on the concentration of a substance in the blood. But a law doesn't exist like for drugs. In my gym, many people takes performance enhancing drugs. A man starts with a dietary supplement and ends with creatine phosphate etc. There are many schools of thought about the danger of these drugs. Under control of a sports doctor, there wouldn't be danger... But a man wants improve his preformance and he finish to take a booster dose.
I think that anythink more than a steak should be avoided for your health!!
My name is Martin and I just felt like making a contribution to your discussion.
Diego - you say that: "In my gym, many people takes performance enhancing drugs. A man starts with a dietary supplement and ends with creatine phosphate etc."
Do you mean that creatine is a drug? Perhaps this is just a missunderstanding of what you want to say, but if its not let me clarify some things.
Creatine is perfectly legal and has been tested alot since it made its debute on the supplement market in the early 1990s. It does not pose any danger to your health and does not have any directly anabolic effect. It binds more water to the muscle fibers and thus enables the athelete to train a bit harder and recover faster.
But i can agree that because supplements have become more and more common, the line between what is OK to use and what is not OK to use might have been blurred.
But i guess eating a steak every day would be equally good since a steak also gives you a minor boost in creatine levels. : )
I agree with you, "the line between what is OK to use and what is not OK to use might have been blurred". I know that creatine perfectly legal, I want say that it's the starting point. I think that if a boy doesn't succeed in his sport, he will takes some legal drugs. But if he takes them already? I think that he will take illegal drugs more easily than other. The law about doping is defined by the amount of the substances in blood and in the urine. But it's continually evolving. I think also that more legal drugs need to be avoided in amateur sport because they engender psychological dependence, but this is my personal idea :D
In response to Alexandra and to Larry... Hi!!! This is Andrea.. I think that the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports is an ethical violation from both the sport and the medical point of view. At first it is unethical because sport’s rules ban the use of these substances. So, from the sportive point of view, I think that doping is like an hand goal in soccer. It’s a cowardly act! I cannot agree with anyone who wins by stealing. It’s a way to overpass the rules. Recently, in Italy, doping has become a crime in the case in point of “sportive fraud”. I think this is the right way and I totally agree with Swedes who don’t hesitate to stop supporting their idols for this act. Moreover sportsperson has to understand that the use of performance enhancing drugs could damage their selves and their future.
Hi... I'm Marinella...I think that speaking about doping we have to remember that it involves not only sports (also if this is perhaps the most
famous sort of doping) but also other sectors and others aspects of life. Lots of people are on drugs to improve their
performances also at work or at school. I know students who are on drugs to prepare their exams. Everybody knows
that doping is a threat to health but although all drugs are so common that we have to reflect about why this happens. I
think that it depends both on each person and on the society we are living in. Someone can be on drugs because he/she is afraid of being unable to reach aims that others reach or because he/she wants to be one step ahead of others at work, at
school or in sports, or because someone or something else wants him/her to be one step ahead of others; but it can be
also a difficult situation or a discomfort which make people take refuge in drugs or in alcohol. The society we are living in is
guilty without doubt because it shows us every day that the most important thing is to obtain great performances often
without taking care of others; it rarely accepts our limits. The real problem is that we understand that we have limits but
we are often unable to accept them, and this is the essence of this problem, while doping is only a consequence. Doping
in sports is the most famous one only because journals and televisions always speak about it also because it is connected
with money and corruption. Sport can be found as a metaphor for life itself, with its challenges to be overcome, its successes and failures.
Unfortunately, the darker side of human nature is also reflected in sport in the form of cheating. But the real problem is
that dopings exists also in sectors which do not involve directly money and people are in drugs also only to try to cancel
limits and weakness and this is something that this society asks of us every day. We have to reflect about ourselves and
about this society we have created before speaking about doping.
In response to Marinella, I understand what you mean by blaming society. But I think it is in human nature to tray and improve results.
We improve everything and the body is just next in line before it was make-up and clothing now it is breast implants and other surgical procedures.
I am not saying it’s ok to take drugs but I don’t think the problem can be solved in conventional ways. Why I am open minded to performance enhancing drugs is because they are in the future going to help cure different illnesses.
I also have a problem with society creating genetically modified food. My point is that if it is ok for us to eat something that is modified in that way, something witch then becomes a part of us. Why is it then so wrong to directly improve the human body?
Monica responding to Mariella Hi Mariella! I think you have used an interesting angle in your text. When I read the headline on the assignment in the classroom, I immediately thought of sports. However the use of illegal drugs is far more expanded and you have made some really good comments on that. The people using them to make even better scores on their achievements are just fooling themselves, they know that they have done so but aren’t really worthy of the result. If a person on drugs gets the first position in an event, he or she will never know if they would have accomplished it without drugs in their body. Sometimes it feels like there will always be people with a mission to beat the regulations and rules, just to see if they can get away with it or not. I think that when much money is involved the problem with drugs will never be solved. Once again thanks for a thoughtful and interesting text! Take care. Monica
I think that doping is a great problem, in particular for some sports like cycling or athletics.
A lot of athletes use doping to enhance their performance and win the contests but in this way they disrepute all the others athletes, also the ones that don't use doping (they are few because as soon as one drug enters the sporting arena all ‘clean’ athletes are immediately disadvantaged).
There are a whole range of different drugs existing for those wanting to improve their performance by increasing muscle mass and strength, reducing weight or even masking the usage of other drugs. And a lot of drugs providing the possibility of a higher level of competition. But we should also consider that there are many unhealthy effects for the athletes from the use of performance-enhancing drugs (as EPO, creatine..), for example there are higher chances of heart attacks or health problems.
The only way to fight against this problem is increase the number of controls and disqualify forever (and not only for one or two years) the athletes who use doping.
There is a need of strict control everywhere, but in particular in some countries of East Europe and Asia.
Hi Marinella I think that you have come up with some key points according to the problems with doping. As you sad that doping is not only a problem among the athletics it’s also a big problem in our normal life’s, at work in school etc. The sad thing is that media and our society only bring up the problem when it comes to our celebrity’s and pro athletics. I live in Spain and here it is a huge problem and very accepted in the society and a lot of ordinary people use doping as a help in school or at the local gym. The problem now days are that you’re a not good enough the way you are in the eyes of the media and the society. I agree with you that is not doping that is the main problem it is our society with its expectations of getting something better all the time.
Personally I think you should disqualify atheletes using drugs for life. It seems like the only way to stop them from keep doing it. It is sad but true. I don’t think they know how they make everyone else suspects to. They don’t think like that!
There is a risk with drugs as you said, with heart attacks and other health problems. Hopefully the drugusing athletes knows about the risks. On some athletes you can see if they are using drugs, especially women, they have a more masculine body, more pimples and more growt of hair then before.
In the last years italian sporting federations with governament increased drug tests. Drugs are used in sports and in Italy are illegal. I think that the problem isn’t use of these drugs, but the fact that aren’t used by all athletes!! Sport is based on rules and competition must be trasparent! If all athletes used drugs there wouldn't be a problem, because all would play in the same way. I think that the target is to defend the game!
I agree with the previous comments about the fact that use of performance enhancing drugs in sports is an ethical violation and a wrong way to obtain a result.
Drawing on an article that describes the new testing programme for UK rugby players, I want to put emphasis on the aspect of the anti-doping tests. Organisations that have to control this increasing phenomenon have to spend a lot of resources (money and people) in order to conceive and to put in use tests that should be able to reveal all illegal substances that athletes can take.
For example the testing programme for UK rugby players is a very complicated system that requires a big effort by the side of anti-doping organisation and also restricts players’ personal liberty.
Thus as well as doping is a dangerous and illegal practice it is responsible for a big waste of money that can be employed in other better ways and for troubles to honest (I hope there is someone :)) athletes.
Today I decide to post a comment on doping, the practice of enhancing performance through foreign substances or other artificial means.
To be honest, I'm not an expert on this subject, I don’t know doping rules or specific anti-doping programs. However, I think that only if you practice a doping-free sport, you’ll, actually, understand your limits and your skills, and this is the only way of facing opponents fairly. So, from this point of view it’s what you’re made of, your values, your strength, and your attitude that makes you a champion as I have just expressed in the title, that I have borrowed from an UK sport programme.
While I surfed the internet, I discovered an anti-doping organization called WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). It’s a Swiss private law foundation, composed and funded equally by the sports movement and governments of the world, that promotes and coordinates the fight against doping in sport internationally. I was surprised learning that not only is WADA involved in anti-doping test on athletes, but it is also involved in preventive anti-doping education programs. I consider this a very important thing, because, while research and testing play an important role in deterring athletes from doping in the short term, education plays a central role in the creation of a strong anti-doping culture in the long term.
18 comments:
Hi!
My name is Alexandra and I have decided to write about performance enhancing drugs in sports (doping).
I think it is a very interesting subject. How people can use drugs to win an olympic gold or give it to competing animals.
Why are they doing it? Do they feel such a pressure from family, leaders or a whole country maybe? Do they want to be best so much they are prepared to cheat?
Why are some countries more “famous” to have athletes using drugs that enhance performance.
Do they not have enough doping tests? The people in that country might no see doping as a scandal?
Today sport commities all over the world are working hard to minimize the number of doped athletes. They have more doping tests and better instruments that shows very small substances of drugs in the blood.
Unfortunatly, athletes finds new drugs that doesn’t show on doping tests.
When an athlete is caught with unallowable substances they got suspended. Sometimes for a couple of months, sometimes for a couple of years. It depends on what they have used. Different countries have different penalties.
Maybe all contries should have the same penalty, maybe athletes should be suspended for life? The discussions are many.
In Sweden we see doping as huge scandal. If any of our athletes should be using drugs, the people would be very disappointed. We don’t accept it.
It is not very common with Swedish doping scandals. I think the Swedish athletes sees doping in the same way as the rest of the people. We want to be best and win gold in fair play.
Hi! Larry is here reporting for duty. I have chosen “performance enhancing drugs in sports” as the subject of my essay. Today doping in sports is a very controversial issue with many people both supporting it and against it. Man has always used the mind to improve our standards of living whether it is creating spears to improve hunting or medicine to cure or prevent illness. But now we have reached a point where we are able to improve upon our bodies.
People who oppose the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. Usually point out that it creates unfair situations in sports and is a health risk for the athletes. Another argument is that athletes that use these drugs indirectly force their competitors to use the drugs to. It is a waste of time competing if the athletes don’t follow the pre set rules of the sport and therefore doping is wrong.
Those that support the uses of performance enhancing drugs argue that athletes today compete in who is the best at hiding their use of the drugs because the use is so widespread. So legalizing or at least allowing the use in regulated forms would benefit sports. And regarding the danger of the use they argue that professional athlete’s rigorous and hard training regimes also are unhealthy and it is up to the athletes to choose what risks they want to take to be the best. There is also the fact that some of the drugs are not dangerous in responsible amounts and if used correctly.
In Sweden doping has been illegal since 1992 and I think the subject is very taboo as are many questionable moral issues In Sweden. And if a Swedish athlete is found to be doped I think they would lose all support from the public. I myself think the issue is complicated and hope to form my own opinion through writing this essay. Because I don’t think that the use of these drugs is completely wrong. I will focus on the moral issue. Whether it is right or wrong and how we might solve the problems we have now in sports. How is doping viewed in Italy it would be interesting to know about the issue from an Italian perspective.
In response to Larry
Hi Larry, I'm Gianni from Pisa.
In Italy the problem of doping is much complex because there aren't only pro athletes that use illegal drugs but, unfortunately, also amateur athlets.
So, the use of performance enhancing drugs is quite widespread in our country. Even if the pro athletes are frequently controlled by own federations, new cases of doping are often discovered. Recently there are been two sensational doping cases in Italian cycling that have had a great resonance on the national media.
Most of the Italian people think that performance enhancing with drugs is a very bad thing both for an ethical point of view and for an health one. But there is also a minority of people who think that an athlete could use illegal drugs to beat other athletes who use these drugs.
Sports federations in collaboration with the government, in the last years, have intensified antidoping controls and social campaigns against illegal drugs but this problem hasn't been defeated yet.
Hi,
nowadays it is impossible to define doping. A definition may be based on the concentration of a substance in the blood. But a law doesn't exist like for drugs.
In my gym, many people takes performance enhancing drugs. A man starts with a dietary supplement and ends with creatine phosphate etc.
There are many schools of thought about the danger of these drugs. Under control of a sports doctor, there wouldn't be danger... But a man wants improve his preformance and he finish to take a booster dose.
I think that anythink more than a steak should be avoided for your health!!
Hi all! Interesting subject you have choosen!
My name is Martin and I just felt like making a contribution to your discussion.
Diego - you say that: "In my gym, many people takes performance enhancing drugs. A man starts with a dietary supplement and ends with creatine phosphate etc."
Do you mean that creatine is a drug? Perhaps this is just a missunderstanding of what you want to say, but if its not let me clarify some things.
Creatine is perfectly legal and has been tested alot since it made its debute on the supplement market in the early 1990s. It does not pose any danger to your health and does not have any directly anabolic effect. It binds more water to the muscle fibers and thus enables the athelete to train a bit harder and recover faster.
But i can agree that because supplements have become more and more common, the line between what is OK to use and what is not OK to use might have been blurred.
But i guess eating a steak every day would be equally good since a steak also gives you a minor boost in creatine levels. : )
Over and out/Martin
In response to Martin
I agree with you, "the line between what is OK to use and what is not OK to use might have been blurred".
I know that creatine perfectly legal, I want say that it's the starting point. I think that if a boy doesn't succeed in his sport, he will takes some legal drugs. But if he takes them already? I think that he will take illegal drugs more easily than other.
The law about doping is defined by the amount of the substances in blood and in the urine. But it's continually evolving. I think also that more legal drugs need to be avoided in amateur sport because they engender psychological dependence, but this is my personal idea :D
In response to Alexandra and to Larry...
Hi!!! This is Andrea..
I think that the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports is an ethical violation from both the sport and the medical point of view. At first it is unethical because sport’s rules ban the use of these substances.
So, from the sportive point of view, I think that doping is like an hand goal in soccer. It’s a cowardly act! I cannot agree with anyone who wins by stealing. It’s a way to overpass the rules.
Recently, in Italy, doping has become a crime in the case in point of “sportive fraud”. I think this is the right way and I totally agree with Swedes who don’t hesitate to stop supporting their idols for this act.
Moreover sportsperson has to understand that the use of performance enhancing drugs could damage their selves and their future.
"Mandatory doping at the Olympics Games, so you can discover how long a man can really run the 100 meters" :-)
Hi... I'm Marinella...I think that speaking about doping we have to remember that it involves not only sports (also if this is perhaps the most
famous sort of doping) but also other sectors and others aspects of life. Lots of people are on drugs to improve their
performances also at work or at school. I know students who are on drugs to prepare their exams. Everybody knows
that doping is a threat to health but although all drugs are so common that we have to reflect about why this happens. I
think that it depends both on each person and on the society we are living in. Someone can be on drugs because he/she is afraid of being unable to reach aims that others reach or because he/she wants to be one step ahead of others at work, at
school or in sports, or because someone or something else wants him/her to be one step ahead of others; but it can be
also a difficult situation or a discomfort which make people take refuge in drugs or in alcohol. The society we are living in is
guilty without doubt because it shows us every day that the most important thing is to obtain great performances often
without taking care of others; it rarely accepts our limits. The real problem is that we understand that we have limits but
we are often unable to accept them, and this is the essence of this problem, while doping is only a consequence. Doping
in sports is the most famous one only because journals and televisions always speak about it also because it is connected
with money and corruption.
Sport can be found as a metaphor for life itself, with its challenges to be overcome, its successes and failures.
Unfortunately, the darker side of human nature is also reflected in sport in the form of cheating. But the real problem is
that dopings exists also in sectors which do not involve directly money and people are in drugs also only to try to cancel
limits and weakness and this is something that this society asks of us every day. We have to reflect about ourselves and
about this society we have created before speaking about doping.
In response to Marinella, I understand what you mean by blaming society. But I think it is in human nature to tray and improve results.
We improve everything and the body is just next in line before it was make-up and clothing now it is breast implants and other surgical procedures.
I am not saying it’s ok to take drugs but I don’t think the problem can be solved in conventional ways. Why I am open minded to performance enhancing drugs is because they are in the future going to help cure different illnesses.
I also have a problem with society creating genetically modified food. My point is that if it is ok for us to eat something that is modified in that way, something witch then becomes a part of us. Why is it then so wrong to directly improve the human body?
Monica responding to Mariella
Hi Mariella!
I think you have used an interesting angle in your text. When I read the headline on the assignment in the classroom, I immediately thought of sports. However the use of illegal drugs is far more expanded and you have made some really good comments on that. The people using them to make even better scores on their achievements are just fooling themselves, they know that they have done so but aren’t really worthy of the result. If a person on drugs gets the first position in an event, he or she will never know if they would have accomplished it without drugs in their body.
Sometimes it feels like there will always be people with a mission to beat the regulations and rules, just to see if they can get away with it or not. I think that when much money is involved the problem with drugs will never be solved.
Once again thanks for a thoughtful and interesting text!
Take care.
Monica
In response to Alexandra.
I think that doping is a great problem, in particular for some sports like cycling or athletics.
A lot of athletes use doping to enhance their performance and win the contests but in this way they disrepute all the others athletes, also the ones that don't use doping (they are few because as soon as one drug enters the sporting arena all ‘clean’ athletes are immediately disadvantaged).
There are a whole range of different drugs existing for those wanting to improve their performance by increasing muscle mass and strength, reducing weight or even masking the usage of other drugs. And a lot of drugs providing the possibility of a higher level of competition. But we should also consider that there are many unhealthy effects for the athletes from the use of performance-enhancing drugs (as EPO, creatine..), for example there are higher chances of heart attacks or health problems.
The only way to fight against this problem is increase the number of controls and disqualify forever (and not only for one or two years) the athletes who use doping.
There is a need of strict control everywhere, but in particular in some countries of East Europe and Asia.
Matteo
In response to Marinella:
Hi Marinella I think that you have come up with some key points according to the problems with doping. As you sad that doping is not only a problem among the athletics it’s also a big problem in our normal life’s, at work in school etc. The sad thing is that media and our society only bring up the problem when it comes to our celebrity’s and pro athletics. I live in Spain and here it is a huge problem and very accepted in the society and a lot of ordinary people use doping as a help in school or at the local gym. The problem now days are that you’re a not good enough the way you are in the eyes of the media and the society. I agree with you that is not doping that is the main problem it is our society with its expectations of getting something better all the time.
In response to Matteo:
Personally I think you should disqualify atheletes using drugs for life. It seems like the only way to stop them from keep doing it. It is sad but true. I don’t think they know how they make everyone else suspects to. They don’t think like that!
There is a risk with drugs as you said, with heart attacks and other health problems. Hopefully the drugusing athletes knows about the risks. On some athletes you can see if they are using drugs, especially women, they have a more masculine body, more pimples and more growt of hair then before.
//alex
In the last years italian sporting federations with governament increased drug tests.
Drugs are used in sports and in Italy are illegal. I think that the problem isn’t use of these drugs, but the fact that aren’t used by all athletes!!
Sport is based on rules and competition must be trasparent!
If all athletes used drugs there wouldn't be a problem, because all would play in the same way.
I think that the target is to defend the game!
I agree with the previous comments about the fact that use of performance enhancing drugs in sports is an ethical violation and a wrong way to obtain a result.
Drawing on an article that describes the new testing programme for UK rugby players, I want to put emphasis on the aspect of the anti-doping tests. Organisations that have to control this increasing phenomenon have to spend a lot of resources (money and people) in order to conceive and to put in use tests that should be able to reveal all illegal substances that athletes can take.
For example the testing programme for UK rugby players is a very complicated system that requires a big effort by the side of anti-doping organisation and also restricts players’ personal liberty.
Thus as well as doping is a dangerous and illegal practice it is responsible for a big waste of money that can be employed in other better ways and for troubles to honest (I hope there is someone :)) athletes.
Francesco
“100% Me
It’s what’s inside that counts!”
Hi there,
Today I decide to post a comment on doping, the practice of enhancing performance through foreign substances or other artificial means.
To be honest, I'm not an expert on this subject, I don’t know doping rules or specific anti-doping programs. However, I think that only if you practice a doping-free sport, you’ll, actually, understand your limits and your skills, and this is the only way of facing opponents fairly. So, from this point of view it’s what you’re made of, your values, your strength, and your attitude that makes you a champion as I have just expressed in the title, that I have borrowed from an UK sport programme.
While I surfed the internet, I discovered an anti-doping organization called WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). It’s a Swiss private law foundation, composed and funded equally by the sports movement and governments of the world, that promotes and coordinates the fight against doping in sport internationally. I was surprised learning that not only is WADA involved in anti-doping test on athletes, but it is also involved in preventive anti-doping education programs.
I consider this a very important thing, because, while research and testing play an important role in deterring athletes from doping in the short term, education plays a central role in the creation of a strong anti-doping culture in the long term.
Mariagrazia
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