On August 24, 2012, the USADA announced that Lance Armstrong would be stripped of his seven Tour titles, honors and would be banned from cycling for life. The report stated that Armstrong had used banned performance-enhancing substances. On October 10, 2012, the USADA released evidence, which included laboratory tests, emails and monetary payments. "The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that the sport had ever seen," Travis Tygart, chief executive of the USADA, said in a statement (“Lance Armstrong Biography” 1).
Athletes should not be able to take performance enhancing substances to protect their bodies and keep the game fair. In order to better understand performance enhancing substances, we need to learn what substances athletes are taking, why they take them, and how they damage their bodies. We also need to know if they are helping teams win and how often they are tested. Last, we need to know how we can stop athletes from taking them.
Do you know what performance enhancing drugs athletes are taking? There are about three common drugs that athletes take. The first is creatine. Creatine is a compound that occurs naturally in your body but it is also sold as an over-the-counter supplement. It’s mainly used to increase muscle mass and strength. It’s also used to enhance recovery after a workout. Mostly football players, hockey players, wrestlers, and gymnasts use creatine. The second drug is anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are mainly used by football players and weightlifters. They are used to increase strength build muscle. Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of a hormone: testosterone.
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We probably won’t be able to beat doping in sports. It started so early and some athletes depend on doping in sports. New substances are being found and being used. The players that are doping in their sport are responsible for themselves and aren’t going to listen to the fas. The further underground the Performance Enhancement Drug trade is driven, the more likely that unscrupulous individuals can take advantage of these athletes that are simply trying to keep up with other competitors that have easier and more trusted access to such underground methods of acquiring these drugs. Another reason that Performance Enhancing Drug use will never be eradicated is because almost every Players' Agreement requires players be given advanced notice prior to all drug testing. This gives players more than enough time to clear their systems and pass a drug test.
Why performance enhancing drugs should be legalized. For starters, yes they are horrible for your body, and in today’s world it is considered cheating, but imagine an alternate world where they are legal. I can say that it would make sports more enjoyable to watch to a certain extent. Athletes running faster, jumping higher, hitting each other harder. It really would be something to see players hit 650 foot homeruns regularly. Or have basketball players averaging 40 points a game, dunking on each other left and right. We as sports fans go to games, tune into broadcast, to watch the home team win and to see something amazing happen. We watch to see a player make history, which might I add doesn’t happen very often. Yes, it may not be as special if a player such as LeBron James was scoring fifty point every night, but it definitely would be fun for viewers to watch. The main challenge in all of this would be how sports would regulate the use. Otherwise it would be interesting to see what sports could turn into in the
Most drugs can be put into one of the five categories of performance-enhancing drugs. Anabolic steroids are mainly strength builders. They are available in forms that can be flushed out of your system within a few hours. The most popular of these drugs is the synthetic testosterone. Most people have a one-to-one ratio of testosterone and epitosterone.
Steroids are ruining sports in the United States, and they are also going to ruin future athletes if the United States does not put a stop to it. Many young athletes in the United States are taking performance enhancing drugs because they see that professional athletes are doing it and getting results. These teenagers are using steroids because they want to look muscular and fit, but they are not aware of the negative effects steroids have on their bodies. Young athletes do not know that they are not only risking their careers but also their bodies. Steroids may make a person look muscular and fit, but at the same time, it is ruining their heart. Steroids also cause people to act differently and do foolish things like using other drugs. Parents can prevent steroid use by teaching their children about it at a young age and staying involved in their children’s sport lives. Steroids have ruined professional careers. They ruined Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds’ careers and almost ruined Alex Rodriguez’s career. Professional athletes use steroids to improve their performance which is cheating. The game is not fair if someone is performing better by using drugs, and everybody should be performing with what they got. There are many different ways to achieve what they want in fair and healthier way. Many high school athletes are using steroids in the United States. They are not doing it under a doctor’s supervision; therefore, they are ruining their bodies without them knowing. Many of these athletes are looking at the outcome only and not what there are doing to their bodies in addition to getting stronger, muscular, and fit. All governing sport bodies in the United States need to take steroid testing seriously and give at...
Performance enhancing drugs affect so many people that don’t even realize it. Fans of the game, coaches, university leaders and of course athletes are the major groups of people that can be affected the most from the usage of performance enhancing drugs. Numerous studies have stated that an athletes drug use in sport could be credited to a complex interaction of personal and environmental factors (Judge). Athletes hold themselves to high standards for themselves or maybe even family members they must provide for. Athlete will do whatever it takes to strive in their sport because in most cases personal success can lead to better opportunities such as the National Football League or maybe even the National Basketball Association. Overall, individuals can be affected in a positive manner through the use of performance enhancing drugs. Furthermore, the use of performance enhancing can do nothing but help athletes. Also, some college athletes need performance enhancing drugs more than others. Not every athlete comes from a well provided family and knowing that can plaque athletes to where they’ll do whatever it takes to be successful. With this in mind it would totally be unfair if only one or a couple of athlete used enhancing drugs however if every athlete were granted the right to use performance enhancing drugs there
Seeking a greater athletic physique and ability, athletes turned to the use of steroids. Once the dangers and possible health risks arose, athletes then turned to performance enhancers. Two specific supplements have taken the sports world by storm and are now being used by athletes of all ages. They are androstenedione and creatine. It took years for people to begin to understand how dangerous steroids really are.
Performance Enhancing Drugs should not be allowed in sports. PEDs are a form of cheating. Not only are they cheating, but they can harm the athlete's body too. There are many long-term health risks we don't even know about! Finally, PED’s make the game unfair because the kids with natural talent are not able to showcase their great skills.
Anabolic steroids are drugs containing, or hormone-like substances, that are used to increase strength and promote muscle growth. They were first developed in the 1930s in Europe to treat undernourished patients and to promote healing after surgery. Competitive weightlifters began using steroids in the 1950s as a way to increase their athletic performance. Use gradually spread throughout the world among athletes in other has been estimated that at least one in 15 male high school seniors in the United States--more than a half-million boys--has used steroids. Some are athletes attempting to increase their strength and size; others are simply youths attempting to speed up their growth to keep pace with their peers. In some countries, anabolic steroids are available over the counter. In the United States, a doctor's prescription is necessary.
The use of performance enhancing drugs can lead to great health issues, can provide unfair advantages to those who are in the right and not doping up, and can cause the spirit of the sport to be violated and the loss of an athlete’s integrity. Though one could argue against each of these three criteria and have a valid argument, I believe that the dangers to an athletes health are reason enough for the ban on performance enhancing drugs to continue. Using these drugs can have extreme effects on bodily organs and the quality of life an athlete will lead after their use. The dangers that using a performance enhancing drug could bring to one’s health is not the only issue, causing the spirit of the sport to be violated is also an important reason. Many people look up to athletes or love a sport, but their support for the athlete as well as their support for that particular sporting event is in danger when an illegal act is committed within that
Many wonder how drugs can influence an athlete's performance in sports. Over the past few years, it has become more known and more common for athletes to use drugs to enhance their performance abilities. It has been becoming more common for athletes to overdose on drugs whether it being intentional or accidental. Many athletes who use performance enhancing drugs do not know the consequences or the damage the drugs can do to their body. Most athletes that use performance enhancing drugs are high school students. They believe that because their favorite professional athletes is using the enhancers that they are able to also. Athletes should be drug tested before every game to help reduce the use of drugs.
Every athlete dreams of becoming the best player in their sport. For most athletes, this dream was created in their childhood watching their favorite player perform at great levels to achieve success. Most athletes will stop at anything to achieve success, even if that means breaking the rules. An athlete whether the biggest, fastest, or strongest, will always look for something that will give them and extra edge over everybody else, even if that means performance enhancing drugs. With new records being broken day by day, I believe performance-enhancing drugs should be legal in all professional sports.
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. Individuals may disagree and argue that we should revoke the ban so we will be able to monitor it more safely. If the ban on performance-enhancing drugs was to be lifted who knows what the next illegal drug to become legal will be.
There are several types of steroids. Steroids are in your body to help your body with stress and puberty; there are medical steroids and these are taken for pain, asthma, or a skin problem but, these aren’t the steroids that athletes are using to get ahead of the opponent. Athletes take anabolic steroids and they are artificially produced hormones. They are taken in forms of pills, injections, or powders. Steroids are illegal if you don’t have a prescription in your possession.
Many people believe that drug use in professional athletics is not a serious problem, however it is more widespread and serious than people think. In professional athletics the use of drugs is looked upon as somewhat of a serious problem, but is also very discrete and low key. Every once in a while one might see a prominent figure in a certain sport being reprimanded for the use of some outlawed drug, however this is just one of the many who happened to get caught. Athletes today seem to find no moral problem with using performance-enhancing drugs, or in other words cheating. Also many of them feel that because they are "stars" there should be no repercussions for their illegal activity.
Turning sports into a way of life instead of a leisure activity has generated fierce competition for athletes to be the best at what they do. Having a "natural ability" no longer is enough. One must work long and hard hours to gain an edge on the competition. However, these days, even good training cannot guarantee a victory. For athletes and coaches the drive to be at the top is so great that they look for shortcuts to their end goal: winning. The one who wins is always the one who is remembered in the end; finishing second is worse than finishing last. When this type of attitude becomes predominant, it is not so surprising that they try any and all methods of cheating the system. In this way, doping has become a common practice for athletes to gain advantage on their competition. Is this a practice that we as the general public should accept, or is there something we can do to change the status quo?
Or even continuous attempts and repeated failure. Some might say even the penalty for a positive test in performance enhancing drugs as become too weak. Just last week professional American sprinter Tyson Gay has been suspended for just one year by the US anti doping agency. He was arguably the second fastest along side Yohan Blake ranking second or third after Usain Bolt. CONCLUSION