Drug use in sports causes ethical dilemmas because athletes’ use of drugs is not monitored closely enough by officials in and out of competition season. Use of illegal drugs, as well as any over-the-counter or prescription medications should be monitored more closely by WADA and USADA. Athletes are subject to a blood or urine drug test at any time, in or out of competition (United States Anti-Doping Agency, 2015a), but the scope of these samples appears somewhat biased, even though it is deemed random. More popular and decorated athletes are more likely to be tested than lesser known athletes. For example, elite marathoner Shalane Flanagan was tested for performance enhancing drugs two more times in the first six months of 2015 than sprinters …show more content…
This includes blood transfusions dating back six months, medications/substances and vitamins from the past week, glucocorticosteroids for the past three months, and any Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) that are currently in effect. Therefore, if an athlete were, for example, to take cold medication to try to enhance their performance, they could take it up until a week before a major competition and not have to submit anything to USADA, and still reap the benefits in competition. An option athletes do have is to procure a TUE. Each of the following conditions must be met for the TUE to be granted: “...[the prohibited substance or prohibited method] is needed to treat an acute or chronic medical condition…, unlikely to produce any additional enhancement of performance beyond what might be anticipated by a return to the athlete’s normal state of health…, and if there is no reasonable therapeutic alternative use of the prohibited substance or method.” (United States Anti-Doping Agency, 2015b). These documents are much more encompassing than the typical Declaration of Use form, but are also only used in somewhat more extreme …show more content…
The earliest cases of doping are dated back to around 776 B.C., when the Ancient Greeks would use herbal medication as well as wine potions and hallucinogens in a ploy to increase their athletic performance (ProCon.org, 2013). It is no surprise that athletes today still strive to get the upper hand on their competition. The difference is that today we have many athletes who want to have clean and fair sports, but there are still people who insist on ruining things for everyone else. Pharmaceutical technology is so far advanced now that if an athlete wished to use a prohibited substance undetected, they would likely be able to do it if they sought out the right doctor. There are ways to cheat the system and drug tests with loopholes and small doses of drugs spread out over
No matter your career, you will eventually run into a situation where an ethical or moral decision has to be made. I am planning on going into athletic training where many ethical dilemmas will surround the health or actions dealing with athletes. Here are three different scenarios I could face as an athletic trainer and how I would resolve each ethical issue.
Citius, Altius, Fortius is the motto of the Olympic games. Translated from Greek, it means "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Recently, Olympic contenders have been doing everything they can to live up to that motto. Most do it by training hour after hour, each day. Others try to do it by illegally taking performance enhancing drugs. This is why we need to test for drugs at the Olympics. Drug Testing in the Olympics began only recently in the 1968 Games held in Mexico1. Drugs are banned for two very good reasons: the use of drugs produces an unfair advantage, and it is hazardous to the athlete to take them. While drug testing is now commonplace, the procedures are still fairly primitive and arouse much controversy2. We all remember the Andreea Raducan situation from the Sydney Olympics. She unknowingly had consumed a performing enhancing drug that was in her cold medication. Her medal was revoked as soon as the drug test results got back.3 While Andreea was caught, many others who intentionally "doped up" weren't Many of the drugs or procedures out there, still can't be tested for, and more and more athletes are cheating. Most of the drugs and procedures have adverse long term effects, some resulting in death. The drug tests are detrimental to the existence of the Olympics and need to be upheld at all costs.
The failure of the NFL to disclose credible research linking concussions to permanent, hidden long-term brain injury to the players can be interpreted as both ethical and unethical. Ethical theories and traps influenced the NFL’s decision. Not disclosing the research is considered moral by the ethical theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarian ethics considers the best decision is one which maximizes overall happiness and minimizes overall pain is more ethical. Utilitarianism’s goal is to produce the best outcome for the largest number of people. The NFL’s failure to reveal the research connecting concussion to permanent brain injury’s is in line with utilitarian ethics. A larger population benefits from football compared to the small number of
The Health and fitness industry have many ethical issues involved which was very interesting to me. I have never purchased a membership at a health club, but from the reading I learned a lot about how they operate. It amazed me that health clubs push their sales representatives to get 200-300 new members a month (Amend, 1992). This is a large amount of people for such a short amount a time, which means some members are not fully aware of the fine print of the membership agreement. Also the reading mentions that more than half of instructors at these clubs do not have valid certification (Copeland et al, 1988),. This is unethical because the members pay each month for the service of a qualified staff member to assist them in exercise and fitness. Safety of the members could also be at risk working out with a non-qualified trainer. Learning how these companies do business make me want to hold off as long as possible to join a gym.
Each day, professional and amateur athletes and body builders thrive to achieve their goals and dreams of winning gold medals or representing their country worldwide. The sports or games in which they participate require physical strength, athleticism and stamina, and due to the tough competition they face, some of these athletes decide to take performance enhancing drugs, an act called doping.
One of the most pressing issues within physical contact sports is the amount of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) sustained by the players on both professional and amateur levels. This particular topic has been debated over numerous times, arguing whether or not there should be more safety regulations within these particular sports. Many people suggest that adding more regulations will impact the sports taking away from their original entertainment. However, one can clearly see the endangerment these athletes face with long term brain trauma, and how certain steps should be enforced in order to avoid this.
In the sports world, as much as in the political, social or corporate world, ethics is put to the test at all times. Most athletes spend their career trying to overcome many barriers in order to gain notoriety and achieve good results with the objective of winning titles and, especially, to have great future opportunities, as for example, being awarded with an athletic scholarship.
“It 's important that athletes can compete on a level playing field. And youngsters coming into the sport can know that if they are working hard and training hard, they 'll see a true reflection of where they stand and what they can achieve worldwide and not be swayed by people who are cheating.” This was said by Paula Jane Radcliffe, a long-distance runner and Olympian. Cheating in sports is considered to be immoral. In sports there are many different forms of cheating. Whether it is illegal taping, bribes, or foul play, it is never the way to go. Undoubtedly the most extreme and controversial form of cheating is through the use of PEDs, better known as Performance Enhancing Drugs. There are many different types of Performance Enhancing Drugs. The two most popular being anabolic steroids and
Sports are governed by sets of rules or customs and often, competition. Sports have always been a way to connect us to our past and to build optimism about the future. Sport’s a way to bond the people despite differences in race, age and gender. However, today the game that is supposed to teach character, discipline and team work is teaching cheating. And in today’s world, with fame, endorsement, drugs and so much to gain, it is not surprising that athletes are cheating in sports. Cheating in sports is not new thing; it started the day when humans first discovered athletic competitions. According to the Los Angeles Times (August 20, 2006) “More than 2,000 years before Mike Tyson bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear and was disqualified in the boxing ring, Eupolus of Thessaly, a boxer in the Olympics of 388 BC, bribed three of his opponents to take dives. Historians consider Eupolus' crime the first recorded act of cheating in sports” (Pugmire 7). We have been seeking an easier way to win. Cheating in sports, which recently has manifested in diverse forms, is more a result of increasing pressure to win from the sponsors and team management, especially in the context of sport becoming a career rather than an act of recreation. What actually constitutes cheating? When does gamesmanship stop and cheating start? And should we try to stop cheating in sports? The use of illegal drugs, huge amount of money and betting is ruining the fame of sports. Hence, cheating in sports is caused by drugs and the desire for endorsement and fame which are getting more effective in recent.
Today, drug use in sport has reached enormous proportions in society and is destroying athletics from the ground up. Nowhere is the problem more serious than in professional athletics, where athletes, coaches and trainers misuse drugs in search of ways to improve performance. Many athletes fail to take their time when making the decision whether to use drugs to their advantage. Unfortunately, athletes may use drugs for therapeutic indications, recreational or social reasons, as muscular aids or to mask the presence of other drugs during drug testing. But the safety of the athlete's health is being neglected.
First, when athletes cheat, they are not pushing themselves to achieve success. Cheating also affects the culprit physically, mentally, and emotionally. Doctor Yesalis, a prominent Professor of Health at Pennsylvania State University, states, "You do not need drugs to have a sense of fulfillment, to feel that you've left it all on the field," Yesalis says. "[Drugs have] taken something that God has given us—love of game and sport—and perverted us" (par. 3). Allowing drugs in sports will not prove who is better at the sport we will just see who is the biggest drug user. This is a great integrity check for the individual because it proves who is true to their profession. This also tests their intestinal fortitude to see if they will be man or women enough to do the correct thing.
...thlete under twenty-four hour surveillance is neither feasible nor lawful. Only when there are more accurate tests can the enforcement of drug rules and regulations be possible. As more sophisticated tests come to market, fewer drugs will escape detection. With the limited ability of current techniques to catch athletes red-handed, pressure must be put on the athletic community to reject doping. Until the athletic community refuses doping as a means to an end, little can be done to stop it from happening.
Ethical and moral quandaries are present at all levels of organized sports (DeSensi, 2010). Athletic directors and sporting managers face many demands each day surrounding their job responsibilities; budgets, parents, coaches, student-athletes, office personal, facility management, public relations. Each of these areas and many more require a considerate, level minded, comprehensive ethical and moral response when a challenge arises to develop an equitable response and solution (DeSensi, 2010). Hence, having a plan of action to handle ethical and moral issues may be essential to creating a culture of integrity in athletic organization.
Everybody has an idea about what their perfect mate would be. Specific traits the person would have to possess. The way the person would look. Parents also have an idea. Even though I could care less about a person’s looks, I do have an idea about what perfect mate would be.
Doping rids the true athletes of what they truly deserve and is wrong; because why should those who put in a hundred per cent of their effort, be outshone by individuals who are choosing to use substances to enhance their physical and mental abilities? Doping damages the sports industry as a whole because it has a serious physical and mental effects on the athletes, as well as damaging the idea of sportsmanship and it also breaks the trust of the fans, as they realise their idols are hypocrites. Doping in sports dates back to the ancient Greek times (need ref here). There are anti-doping agencies worldwide in virtually every country. In Switzerland its anti-doping Switzerland, in Nigeria it’s the Nigerian national anti-doping committee and in the UK its UK anti-doping.