“The use of illegal performance -enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sports, commonly known as “doping”is one of the most prominent issues in professional athletics”(Issitt). Performance enhancing drugs have come a long way since the beginning. Steroids began as a treatment for medical issues and then grew with a wider attention of athletes in the 1930s. There has been many issues since then with many athletes from cycling, to football, to baseball. These substances can only cause problems in the world of professional sports and bring more dangers to the games. Performance enhancing substances should not be permitted in major league sports because of the health risks, unfairness and cheating, and the bad role models that these drug abusers become. To …show more content…
Steroids can increase the ability of ones play to give them an unfair advantage over others. A study shows that, “Steroids can be used to foster muscle growth and the development of male sexual characteristics (e.g., body hair) in men and women alike. Many athletes, in a wide range of sports, use steroids to increase their strength and endurance and gain an advantage over rivals”(Baseball, Steroids, and HGH). This advantage alone can change the outcome of any game or any event just with the extra strength. To add, performance enhancing drugs have given people unfair advantages in all sports, but no sport compares to the uses in the olympics. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, there was the most PEDs violations. A roaring amount of twenty six athlete were caught with the PEDs in their systems. Six of these athletes were medalist and two were gold medalist(Allen). FInally, steroids have been brought to fans eyes and they believe that the PEDs have took the game from their natural athleticism and made the game unfair. The games are all played for the fans entertainment and why would fans want to watch an unfair game. A trusted author, Allen, took this into mind, “For many sports fans PED use raises a question of fairness. They see the use of PEDs as a form of cheating. They believe an athlete should rely on his or her own natural talent and ability, not on drugs and …show more content…
One example that the article explains is the training, “Still, despite the pampering, athletes work hard. Anybody who reads of the training regimens of Michael Phelps, Lance Armstrong, the Williams sisters [Venus and Serena] must stand in awe of them. And gone are the days when baseball, basketball, or football players spent off seasons delivering beer or anchoring couches. They train”(Lavin). On the other hand, steroids can also be used for medical use. The medical use is only to a certain extent though. Some of the certain reasons that steroids are used are stated in this trusted article, “Other examples include methenolone and oxandrolone. In certain cases, individuals may need to take various types of anabolic steroids to cope with physiological conditions and athletes may be permitted to use certain types of anabolic agents if they can demonstrate that the drugs are being used to address a legitimate medical need”(Issitt). Although some people could say steroids are good, there is no good to steroids in professional sports. Steroids are drugs that make muscle bigger which is an advantage. Along with training, steroids are still cheating. The steroids will make the athlete stronger and the training will just add to the unfairly gained strength. In the end, with medical uses of steroids, it should not be aloud. The reasoning
Many athletes use steroids to become stronger and improve their ability to play their sport. Certain players believe there is nothing wrong with using steroids. Athletes who excel greatly would normally be chosen to be in the Hall of Fame, but if using steroids, they should not be allowed. Steroids have many effects on people. Baseball players are big influences on children and teenagers, which could cause even more steroid use because of major league baseball players.
Anabolic steroids have become an epidemic amongst athletes since the 1950's when a Swiss company by the name of Ciba Pharmaceuticals introduced what was to become the most popular anabolic drug for athletes called methandrostenolone. “By this time, the era of the steroid athlete was well underway and world records were being shattered and re-shattered with remarkable regularity.” (Oklobdzija & Weyrauch, 1989, para 3) From then on, there have been many cases throughout professional sports where athletes are reported or caught using anabolic steroids.
Those who believe the use of anabolic steroids should be allowed in professional sports have numerous arguments for those in opposition. Professional sports leagues have tried to stop the use of steroids by drug testing players and punishing those who do not pass. A number of major athletes, such as Lance Armstrong, have been stripped of their athletic accolades due to discoveries of drug use. Despite witnessing the fall of great competitors due to “doping,” people continue to use. Because of unsuccessful attempts at banning the drug, many people believe “it may be time to head in the other direction: legalize performance enhancers” (Smith 1). No matter how many rules and regulations are made against the use of steroids, athletes will continue to abuse the drug in order to get ...
“We have to make some radical move to get the attention of everyone. Cheaters can 't win and steroids has put us in the position that it 's OK to cheat” (“Steroids Quotes”). Unfortunately, baseball has been plagued with the assistance of performance enhancing drugs to lengthen players careers, to boost statistics, and create an extraordinary ballplayer out of an average player. Contrary to the steroid abusers’ beliefs, steroids are not positively influencing any aspect of their game or personal life. The credibility and dignity of baseball has decreased due to performance enhancing drugs, which is not only cheating, but it also leads into a even
Since at least the 1980’s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have been a major challenge in the world of Major League Baseball, and past trends indicate they will continue to pose an ongoing problem. A number of the most prominent and accomplished professional baseball players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, are also the most famous examples of baseball players who have broken longstanding records, attracted countless numbers of fans, and allegedly have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes who have been caught using steroids in order to increase and better their performance rates have been suspended, fined and traded from the teams on which they once played. Despite the punitive actions taken against them by the League and lawmakers, players continue to use performance-enhancing drugs and likely will continue to do so, because the associated athletic effects will draw more fans and bring more money to the individual player and franchise.
With television and computer so common in today’s society, more and more people spend much time at home watching sport shows. Young children grow up with their heroes being famous athletes they see on TV everyday. These young children grow up wanting to be just like the people they have watched for years on television. Becoming a great athlete is a dream of many young people and also their parents. Because steroids have seemed to make it a lot easier for people to attain the goals they have set out to accomplish, many people have turned to the drugs to gain that goal. Without thinking about the physical side effects or the mental side effects that steroids can have on them, they are willing to risk all that to become bigger, stronger, or faster just to succeed in sports whether it be in junior high, high school, college or at the professional level.
The role of PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) in world of sports has been the center of much controversy and debate dating back to the beginning of the Olympics, that has captured a considerable amount of attention within the past century. The revelation of PED use by star athletes has been a repeating occurrence in the world of professional sports. These allegations quickly turn legacies into scandals, for what one person once stood for throughout their career is now quickly overshadowed by the insert of a needle. The question then is, what if they were made legal? what would the reaction be and how would it change each respective league if PEDs were now allowed on the playing field? The use of these supplements has found its place in sports in a very timely and real matter, with many in opposition towards the use because of the growing concerns surrounding them, health and morally. In a closer examination of the purpose of professional sports, it is clear that the use of PEDs only bolster its purpose: allowing professional athletes to push to reach the peak of human perfection resulting in increased performance and success in sports from an entertainment perspective.
Anabolic steroids have been abused by Major League Baseball players for years, it’s time to forever ban the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs before they ruin America’s past time. Why should athletes be able to cheat when teammates or rivals are competing with honest effort? Every year records are broken and new heights are achieved, the game of baseball is very simple yet very humble, and to deceive the game you love, forever will you be punished. Let me inform you with the origin in which PEDs were first used and where they came from, regulation, and a possible solution.
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
Steroids are being used more commonly today in normal people's lives. They are also being used so athletes can become stronger, but they have many consequences that follow the advantages. Most people believe that steroids are a false measurement of an athletes ability, and others believe that steroids are good because athletes can become stronger and make their sports more exciting to watch. This is a very important issue today because athletes today are using steroids to gain an unfair advantage over the other athletes.
Steroids have been in sports for the longest time. But the use of them has increased tremendously over time. Many athletes use them to bulk up and get more muscle. In the long run though, using steroid can seriously hurt an athlete. “The use of performance-enhancing drugs is not accidental; it is planned and deliberate with the sole objective of getting an unfair advantage.” (npr.org). This is what Richard Pound said during a debate over the use of steroids in baseball.The use of steroids by professional athletes is becoming more common, so it needs to be put to a halt to protect the wellbeing of athletes.
middle of paper ... ... For these reasons alone, I believe that performance-enhancing drugs should remain illegal for the welfare of athletes. Performance-enhancing drugs should continue to be banned from professional sports because they have side effects that athletes may be unaware of, there is a disadvantage to athletes that do use PED’s and it is unfair to previous athletes who hold records.
The spirit of sporting activities celebrates the human body and mind. Sports value ethics, honesty, health, and dedication. Why then, have professional sports become all about seeking an unfair advantage in order to overwhelm and dominate the competition? In today’s society, we see a multitude of athletes using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), which defeats the purpose of competing in pro sports. Performance enhancing drugs should not be allowed in pro sports because it provides them with an unfair advantage, as well as being a risk to their health and diminishing their reputation as role models to young athletes.
Steroids became an option to athletes in the Olympics and other major sporting events during the 1950’s. But this use of steroids among athletes only became widely apparent when Canadian sprint runner Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use after winning the gold medal for the one hundred-meter dash during the 1988 Olympics (Francis, 45). Now a skinny fifteen-year-old can just walk down to the local gym and find people who either sell or know how to get in contact with those who sell the drug that will make him envious of his friends. Steroids are an attractive drug. While steroids seem harmless to the unaware user, they can have a risky effect. Most of the time whether the users are new or experienced, they do not know the dangerous consequences steroids can have on their bodies and their minds. Though steroids cause a relatively insignificant number of deaths in our society, the banning of steroids is justified because steroids have a lot of side effects not known to the uninformed user.
Overall it is clear that the need to use performance enhancing drugs is outweighed by the consequences and issues caused by performance enhancing drugs. Sporting events such as the world cup, the Olympics or the World Series make young children feel inspired and encouraged about what they could achieve through dedication and hard work. I feel it is important for the sporting industry as well as the athletes to return respectability to the sport. By