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The Use of Steroids in Sports
Before the 1990's, athletes were unique. They were able to capitalize on their
God-given talents, and make themselves famous based on their skill. But then something
happened. Steroids began to play a bigger and bigger role in sports. No longer were the
most naturally gifted athletes becoming the stars. Now, it can be said that whoever has
the best pharmacist can be the best athlete. As the amount of performance enhancing
steroids increases in professional sports, many athletes are gaining an unfair advantage
over their competition.
Athletes take steroids to gain an advantage. Steroids are used by athletes in
baseball, football, and in Olympic events in hopes of finding the edge to make them the
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We always want to get rich the
fastest way, we want to get famous the fastest way, we want to get strong and be
competitive the fastest way," Arnold Schwarzenegger said, on why athletes take steroids.
Some athletes simply do not feel like they can compete with the best in the world
without a little help. This could be the number one reason why athlete begin taking
steroids. Some of their peers are bigger, faster, or more skilled, and they want to feel
equal, and get a little outside help. "...Some people are naturally gifted, others have to
work very. Some people are not going to make it without extra help," remarked Erik de
Bruin, coach/husband of Michelle Smith, who won three gold medals in the 1996
Olympics, shaving almost twenty seconds off her best time from 1993. To try to gain
athletic equality, or superiority in their sports, they go to steroids for a little extra kick.
Muscle building drugs have transfonned sports into something of a freak show.
The general build of a given athlete is much bigger with their arms, shoulders, and legs
enlarged, sometimes to a point that they do not look real. "...Guys out there look like
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.
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
Steroids are illegal in the US, and banned from baseball, however in the past they have not been suspected to be such a big problem. Therefore, Major League Baseball has failed to properly address it with preventative measures. In the 2001, the Major League Players Association’s contract with Major League Baseball protected players on the 40 man roster against testing. As for the minor leagues, testing only occured in-season, and was restricted to some players. Many players use in the off season and know how long the drugs will remain in their bodies (anywhere from 2 weeks to 18 months). If tested positive, they receive a warning about the hazards of the drug and are not punished at all. Five to ten percent of minor leaguers tested positive, and which fails to account for users not tested, those who used out-of-season, and those who found measures around the test. In the majors, some suspect that 50% of players use steroids and some, such as Jose Canseco, as hig...
The steroid era as many know now started roughly 2003, but there was a time in which many forget. In the 1980’s there was a strike, cocaine scandal, a 1985 World Series blown call, and the banishment of all-time leader Pete Ross for gambling (Addona). These were the main things in people’s minds at the time, but they didn’t see that steroids were slowly working its way into the mix. In April 1988 the Los Angeles Times reported that American’s pastime remained “essentially steroid-free” (Steroids). Thomas Boswell wrote for the Washington Post, as a sportswriter didn’t feel the same way. Boswell wrote for the Boswell wrote about Jose Canseco as “the most conspicuous example of a player who has made himself great with steroids.” Canseco would deny the allegations and later on went to win the American League Most Valuable Player. Jose would eventually admit to using steroids in 1985 saying that he took them in the late 1980’s and the 1990’s (Steroids). He says steroids in baseball were as common as a cup of coffee during that time.
Opening day isn’t even here yet, and already we have enough controversy to last us the whole season. At a time when we’d much rather be thinking about the smell of fresh cut grass, hot dogs and pennant dreams, we’re forced to deal with a far darker issue. Now more than ever, there is alarming suspicion concerning apparent steroid drug use in Major League Baseball. As an avid baseball watcher and player of the game for twelve years this scandal is of great concern to me. In the time to come I will be informing you of how steroid use has tarnished baseball’s image, allowed for more records to be broken unfairly and the harmful effects it has on your body.
The era in sports from the late 90s and into the 2000s has often been nicknamed “The Steroid Age” due to the raging use of anabolic steroids and other PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) by professional athletes. The usage of drugs in sports has never been more prevalent during this time, and many people are making it their goal to put an end to the abuse. Influential athletes such as Lance Armstrong, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens, who were once held as the highest role models to the American people, now watch as their legacies are tarnished by accusations of drug use. The American population, and lovers of sports everywhere, have followed in astonishment through recent years as many beloved athletes reveal their dark secrets. As organizations such as the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) and BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) attempt to halt the use of PEDs, both the drug users and their high-end suppliers work diligently to avoid detection. The use of performance enhancing drugs in recent years has proven to be cancerous to the honesty and competition of modern sports. Although some strides have been made over the past few decades, the use of steroids is in full swing in Major League Baseball, The dangerous side effects of the drugs are often overlooked and many do not realize the message this sends to the youth. The support for halting the usage of PEDs is in need of attention or professional sports will face the loss of all progress made through the past two decades in its war on steroids.
Steroids are used as much in sports now as they have ever been in the past, even with stricter testing and knowledge of the harmful side effects. Olympians are especially prone to use these drugs because of the great pressure put on these athletes, but it is becoming wide spread through all sports. For the most part, the athletes get away with steroid use because of new technologies and using patterns which make the steroids undetectable to the tests.
The exception to steroid use should be only when they are being prescribed by a doctor for medical conditions. One of the main purposes of keeping athletes from using these drugs is simply for their own health benefits. Over the years there have been multiple cases in which the abuse of these drugs has caused...
“Performance Enhancing Drugs.” MSN Encarta Online Encyclopedia. ProCon, 20 October 2008. Web. 30 January 2014.< http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001201>
In today’s day and age, steroids have plagued the reputation of many sports. It was first presented in Russia and sparked a new era of bigger athletes with no seeming end. Steroids have gotten its way into every sport with usage high school athletes all the way to the pros. Even though there are many effects to the users health, steroid use is through the roof. Because our athletes are bigger and stronger than they were 60 years ago, they feel the need to be the biggest and do not care if there life is on the line. From Lance Armstrong to Alex Rodriquez, also known as A-Roid, our greats have cheated their way to greatness. Although our government has pushed for several laws to cut down from steroid use, they have little to no use. It has been a huge issue in the world of sports and is now getting the attention and recognition it deserves in the media. Steroid use by athletes of all ages are tarnishing their reputation and destroying their lives, and a solution is needed.
In today’s society, athletes are revered as heroes. There is immense pressure to be the best. Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to gain an edge, even if it means compromising their health. For almost three decades, athletes have been supplementing their strength program with anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. To be sure, anabolic steroids are effective supplements to strength training programs, but there is no doubt that the consequences can be deleterious.
As time passes and education and science continue to evolve and change this world into something that many people never thought would be possible, there are many positives but there are also a lot of negatives that resulted (Helmenstine). As science continually comes out with new kinds of medication and performance enhancing drugs the sports world has to continue to expand with them. Every year hundreds of more drugs become part of our society and as they continue to become available, sports continue to struggle with keeping up. When steroids first became known to the world they really weren’t anything to worry about because the science was not what it is today. As a result, the performance enhancing drugs then did not provide athletes with the amount of strength they provide them with now. Steroids have been proven to be the m...
Have you ever imagined a game played with rules that were adjusted to one of the player’s likings and style and how unfair that would be to the other players? Alex Rodriguez was recently suspended for the entire 2014 season over accusations of taking performance enhancing drugs and having ties with the biogenesis clinic. Steroids have marked a low point in time for sport’s reputations as the steroid phenomenon carries on. Performance-enhancing drugs include any substance taken to perform better athletically. This term is referenced often and typically refers to steroid use in sports by professional athletes. Steroids are taken by swallowing or injecting into the muscle. Users take steroids on a schedule known as a cycle, in which they "stack" or "pyramid" their doses. Doctors may prescribe steroids to patients for legitimate medical purposes such as: loss of function of testicles, low red blood cell count, delayed puberty and debilitated states resulting from surgery or sickness. However, today athletes will go to many lengths to increase athletic ability, including: steroids, HGH, Amphetamines, and even animal or human organs. “The most common illegal source is from smuggling steroids steroid’s into the United States from the countries such as Mexico and European countries. Smuggling is easier because a prescription is not required for purchase of steroids”(Anabolic Steroids). Although steroid use has several great pros that make it seem like an excellent supplement to one's exercise routine, they also have some very serious side effects. For one, there are a great many psychiatric consequences involved in taking steroids. Many individuals report severe depression during and after stopping use (Chiras, 2005). ...
If one were to turn on the television and watch the news you would hear a lot of news stories, but you won’t commonly hear about a rising incline in steroids in today’s society. Today many people, even children, are using steroids to gain a strength advantage over their peers. So why are people using steroids?
It is amazing what athletes will do to achieve higher levels of performance and to sometimes get the extra edge on the competition. Most of the time people do not realize the long-term effects that result from the decisions they make early in life. This resembles the use of steroids in a person’s life.