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 …show more content…
The effects of these supplements can range from expediting muscle to increasing one's stamina. PEDs began to become the center of controversy when the I.O.C set up a medical commission to oversee the fight against doping, which ultimately lead to the ban of PED's in professional sports. Stemming off from the I.O.C are groups such as the World Anti-Doping Association in attempt to regulate illegal substances by annually publishing lists of banned supplements. Because the use of these supplements have risen during the past century ,so has mass media ,and coverage of such a matter has lead to the constant discussion whether there is a place for them in the world of professional sports or should …show more content…
From an ethical standpoint, questions start to arise such as is it morally acceptable for these supplements to have a place in professional sports? The I.O.C ( International Olympic committee) believes that the use of supplements would violate the "Sprit of sports". In an extensive report, the I.O.C outlines that the spirit of sports represents honesty, fair play, and respect for oneself and others. In the article " why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sports" Drs. M. Clayton and B. Foddy confirms the spirit of sports through horse racing. The goal of Horse racing is to ultimately find the fastest horse out of the crop. But horse racing is not limited to just the horse itself, they work hand to hand with their jockeys, humans who have a conscience. The common perception that sports is limited to only one's genetic capacity is false, we have the ability to make decisions that would help us to strategize to give us the best chance of winning. By including PEDs sports would incorporate a mixture of genes, strategy, and training while still upholding the spirit of
Performance enhancing drugs have been a longstanding problem in sports. It not only deteriorates the honesty of the game, but also can have broader social affects that one may not even realize. The use of performance enhancing drugs is especially apparent in Major League Baseball. This problem can be traced back to the 1980’s when baseball was facing one of its first “dark periods”. During the 1980’s Major League Baseball was experiencing a home run drought. Home run totals were down as far as they had been since Babe Ruth, and fans were seemingly becoming bored with the sport. The lack of home runs was a growing concern for players whose salary relied on home run totals. Players needed to find a quick way to boost their power and performance in order to keep the sport alive and to keep bringing in their paychecks. This desire for fame and fortune introduced steroids into Major League Baseball in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Home run totals jumped tremendously during these decades and players were willing to risk being caught using illegal substances in order to shine above the rest. New idols and role models started to sprout up from these outstanding home run statistics and young children started to take notice. This all came tumbling down when these new idols and role models who were making the big bucks and hitting the ball out of the park tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Here lie the affects of a growing social problem in sports. These famed athletes become walking advertisements and promotions for the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. The influence professional athletes have over aspiring young athletes is very powerful and these roles models make it seem acceptable to use performance ...
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 ...
Steroids have become an athletic advantage to those becoming the best. Steroids first used in the early 1990’s were used by players as an everyday supplement, providing a boost in their game. This has evolved into a daily habit for players and teen accessing a life destroying choices just to be the best for once. For steroids have developments in the scandal with “13 Major League Baseball players, including Alex Rodriguez- the highest paid player in professional baseball” (Woerner). Showing PED’s will destroy the things you love the most, but only “effective in the short term” (Woerner). Meaning that the little amount you took won’t last you a lifetime.
The problems with performance enhancing drugs are that they give the user unfair advantages over other athletes and come with many health risks such as baldness. Steroid use can result in very substantial legal consequences and can ruin the user’s reputation. There are many alternatives to steroids but not all of them are safe. Different organizations have different rules on steroids, but in most cases, the user can get suspended, fined, or even both. Various types of steroids can have various short-term or long-term side effects. There are several types of steroids, the most popular ones being anabolic steroids. Historically, steroids have been around for many years, but the debate surrounding them started recently, more specifically a few decades ago. An important term to know is anabolic steroids which are made to work with the user’s muscle mass. Another term to know is clarified by Ida Walker, author of the book, Steroids: Pumped Up and Dangerous, published by Mason Crest Publishers in 2008, defines, peliosis hepatis is a rare condition in which cysts filled with blood form in the liver, if the cysts were to pop then internal bleeding would occur. A positive argument about steroids is stated by Adrianne Blue, author of the essay, “Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legal,” published in the book Athletes and Drug Use, published in 2009, disputes, “Blue concludes that legalizing performance- enhancing drugs can protect athletes from dangerously abusing them.” The utilization of performance enhancing drugs has left a giant scar on sports and has compromised the achievements of many athletes; therefore, they are transforming the sports world into a drug filled world.
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.
Throughout history humans created sporting events to properly measure the talents and effort put forth by our greatest athletes. Unfortunately a recent trend has been a spark for concern within the professional sporting world which can will only lead to more controversy. This trend is the use and attractiveness of performance enhancing drugs, otherwise known as PEDs. PEDs, while just an enhancement to natural talents, is an unwarranted unnatural agent that is eroding the cohesion within the professional sporting world. These athletes who are using PEDs are doing tremendous damage to their ethical and moral integrity, as well as, the sports integrity, at which they are in. They are creating monstrous persona’s which mirrors the actions of Dr. Jekyll form the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The athlete’s means of becoming the greatest of all time, to reach new heights in their career, or simply to gain a competitive edge, is not justifiable in almost any
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.
Sports players are starting to resort to different ways to help them play better or to get stronger. And one of the big ways right now is the use of PEDs. They use them because they are weaker then there opponents. But even though they make you stronger and gives you an edge over on everyone else that is not using them they ruin lives and make people think of you differently as a person. Elite athletes use them to help them win and or play better, example Lance Armstrong who is a seven time Tour de France winner, who was caught “doping” so that he was stronger and had more stamina then his other opponents. Then Alex Rodriguez claimed that he used steroids to help recover from his hip surgery. But when really it was helping him continue to smash the ball even when he was trying to recover from his injury, but he continued to use them after he was better. And the clinic he and twenty seven other professional baseball players were getting them from. When he and Lance were caught they still denied it. They lost a lot of respect in the community because there great performances weren’t really there raw skills and years of training. "A potent cocktail of sophisticated PEDs stacked together to delive...
There are many downfalls to PED use in baseball. Physically enhancing drugs can deteriorate your body and doing permanent damage to themselves and their reputation as a player. PED use ruins the enjoyment of the game for viewers because it isn’t fair for those who
I strongly recommend the article “Why Suspensions Won’t Deter PED Users Like Maria Sharapova” by Zach Petersel to be published in The Shorthorn newspaper. Petersel’s article is incisive, coherent, and persuasive; his discussions are relevant and have sufficient evidences to support his claim. The issue of the article is complex, controversial and intriguing standing suitable for most of The Shorthorn readers including professional athletes, trainers, investors, and sports enthusiasts.
Many Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to become a professional. One of the easiest ways to enhance natural ability is through performance-enhancing drugs or, PEDs. PEDs are substances used by athletes to increase their performance. The use of PEDs in athletic competition can date back to ancient Greece. Athletes use PEDs to run faster, jump higher and recover at an increased pace. Many athletes are pressured into using PEDs by coaches or managers and are not thoroughly educated the harmful health issues that can come along with taking performance-enhancing drugs. A rising issue is if performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed in professional sports. I believe that in any professional sport, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes should continue to be banned because this rule will help to keep athletes from abusing these harmful drugs.
These are considered cheating, can cause fatal health issues and come with consequences. These drugs interrupt respect for the sport rules. Athletes should get recognition for their talents that they have put work and effort into. These drugs have the potential to interrogate a sports original ways. Works Cited: "Effects of PEDs."
...t these drugs are catastrophic and cause so many diseases and sicknesses that should not happen to an athlete. Athletes will be looked at as superheroes and children would not want to idolize a player that got to where he is because he did drugs. A child wants to look up to a player that beat the odds and worked harder than everyone else. If Performance Enhancing Drugs were legalized and allowed in all professional sports, there would be a lot of deaths, and player that have diseases caused by the drugs they took. Also High school and college players would begin to take it because they would feel like that is the only way to get to the pros. And lastly players would hurt themselves and their teammates and fellow players. PED’s have a lot of potential but not yet. There are too many health defects and we do not want our “heroes” to die from a disease caused by drugs.
In all professional sports in the United States, the use of PEDs are prohibited. However, there is only one acceptation to that rule. If an athlete is injured, prescriptions to certain drugs which are used in recover are allowed. These drugs may consist of certain chemicals that enhance muscle grow. Some athletes have used this to their advantage and have got prescriptions to these drugs for their own personal benefits, will other athletes are using it for recreational purposes. This, however, is not the only way to obtain PEDs; there are also other ways such as buying them from an underground market. Athletes with the intention to cheat will take the risk of using PEDs, since if they are successful they will achieve fame and money.
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