In sports, athletes will do whatever it takes to gain the slight improvement over the competition. Unfortunately, many athletes unfortunately turn to PEDs, or Performance Enhancing Drugs, such as anabolic steroids or tetrahydrogestrinone. These energy level boosters are banned by most sports organization. Over the past 48 years, 64 Olympic athletes have lost their medals due to the use of banned substances. Over time, certain countries have had more athletes banned than others. Russia, having 12 competitors banned, and the USA, having 11 competitors banned, is leading the world in athletes banned.
On top of the drugs negatively affecting the countries of the users, it is highly not recommended by most any doctor. Each year, against all doctor’s recommendations, role model athletes like Olympians and professional sports players take drugs to increase their physical capabilities and risk losing the medals they win for their country. It can cause negative physical, social, or economic side effects. Physical Effects When so many different groups and organizations ban a drug, there is most definitely a solid reason behind it.
These drugs are guaranteed to have unwanted or unhealthy side effects or else they wouldn’t be banned. One of the side effects of anabolic steroids is testicle shrinkage. Due to this unwanted side effect, users are forced to use another controversial drug, Human Chronic Gonadotropin, to counteract the shrinkage. Neither drug is cheap so now users are being forced to pay for and use an additional drug. Many of the stimulant drugs taken by these athletes are exceptionally dangerous and could have some extreme side effects including death. In 1960, a cyclist named
Knut Jenson dies after taking Ronicol, a blood circulation stimulant. He was the first athlete to die since 1912. If a drug has so many downsides but athletes still use it, it would make sense for it to have a large upside. Although it’s quite the contrary. “What is so important about steroids is that athletes think they work. There is as yet no scientific proof that steroids improve muscle strength. ” In an attempt to prove that there is an upside to the drug, Dr. Ziegler began and experiment. He gave test group “A” anabolic steroids and test group B a placebo.
He thought he had made a breakthrough when he saw that group A reported an increase in the weight they lifted until he saw what happened to group B. They also reported the exact same story as group A. This led him to his conclusion, “… believes that it only works as a psychological factor. “. There are some circumstances where the person takes the drug for medical purposes. On March 7, 2016, Maria Sherapova failed her drug test at the Australian Open. In her case, she had been using her medication for low magnesium levels and possible heart problems. She was unaware of it being banned on Jan 1, 2016.
The decision to ban the drug was made by the WADA, world anti-doping agency. With new drugs being created, the WADA is doing their best to ban anything to their knowledge. Social Side Effects If you caught with these drugs, it will attract a lot of negative publicity. Many people will argue their innocence even after being proven guilty. Being a top-level athlete is very stressful and when you see a way to ensure you will succeed, it is hard to refuse the offer no matter what the consequences could be. Lance Armstrong, a huge role model and cyclist, used these drugs and it ended his career in and out of cycling.
He declined it for most of the trial, until towards the end he came out and told the truth. He was making absurd amounts of money but this trial put a damper on it. His company, Livestrong, had huge sale decreases and lost a lot of money. This trial had successfully ruined his reputation and now when anyone says his name, him breaking the rules is one of the first things that come to mind. It also ruins the careers of the doctors who make the choice to supply the athletes with these drugs. When a country supports something like this, it can permanently ruin their reputation.
The German Democratic Republic was known to have a program for hormonal doping which is still sometimes associated with them. This program was giving out and promoting the use of these legal but unsportsmanlike drugs all “under the radar. ” No other countries knew about the program until 1990 and the knowledge of this secret program is limited due to how secret it was. “Several classified documents saved after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1990 describe the promotion by the government of the use of drugs, notably androgenic steroids, in high performance sports. If this would have happened in the 21st century, the rest of the world wouldn’t have allowed this because it’s not fair to the countries that are actually playing by the rules.
Economic Side Effects Countries are willing to do what it takes to win, and that includes not punishing their athletes appropriately and lying to hide it. Occasionally, some athletes tested positive and were banned from competition for a period, but these occurrences were generally considered exceptions, and the athletes caught were regarded as “black sheep. The reasons for this secrecy and misinformation of the public are multifold and may include the desire to protect the clean image of international sports for political and mercantile purposes. These countries were concerned with the economic consequences and hid their wrong doings. Although the Olympic Committee has been known for corruption and accepting bribes from countries in the past, one major downside of a country during the selection process is how many players have had medals revoked due to cheating.
Since Russia has the most with 12 medals taken and the United States of America is a close second with 11 medals taken, the International Olympic Committee is therefore more hesitant in choosing more frequently cheating countries. Hosting the Olympic games is a huge source of income and economic growth due to tourist attractions. It also creates new sports arenas/ facilities which America could always use another football or basketball or baseball team. All of the positive statistics haven’t come true for America since the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
If the United States could stay out of the drugs, the odds of hosting a future Olympics would increase drastically. Case Studies Many famous people have been charged or found guilty of doping at high-level play of sports or the Olympics. One of the biggest doping/ steroid trials ever was lancing Armstrong’s trial. “… the cyclist’s career turned from unparalleled success to the biggest doping scandal ever seen in the sport. ” After winning 7 consecutive Tour de Frances, A newspaper accuses him saying that EPO was in several samples supplied by Armstrong during the 1999 tour.
From that point on his entire career began to decline. He never won another Tour de France and finally retired in 2011. After found guilty and he was stripped of all his Tour de France medals, he had to step down from chairman of his own company. The last part of his downward spiral was Nike and Oakley cut all ties with Lance Armstrong. But Lance Armstrong wasn’t the only famous person to get in trouble for this. Many people who aren’t Olympians or Cyclists get in trouble too. In the sport of baseball, speed, strength, and skill are all you need.
Well when someone like Alex Rodriguez could improve 2 of the 3 on the list all at once, they take the offer. Alex Rodriguez, a Major League Baseball player was caught doping. He was a 14 time All-Star who served a yearlong suspension. There were millions of kids out there trying to be just like him but none of the kids know what he’s done wrong and they never will. Many Olympic sprinters those proud few also have gotten in trouble for using banned substances without caring for the consequences. One of these people is Ben Johnson. He got caught taking steroids at the Seoul Olympics.
He still feels like he’s being punished. After setting multiple world records and the countless hours of practice he put in, everything he had accomplished was taken from him. Another track star that got caught using these drugs was Marion Jones. The 31-year-old woman on the United States running team initially told federal investigators she hadn’t taken any banned substances. Like all other athletes, she was sorry and ashamed of her actions. Outside the courthouse after the ruling, she addressed the crowd saying, “It is with great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you I have betrayed your trust.
Before Usane Bolt came to surpass most of his records, Tim Montgomery was the fastest man in the world. Although many people don’t like him due to his unethical and non-legal method of getting faster. He was dating Marion Jones at the time and they both used banned substances to get stronger and faster. Maria Sherapova is currently one of the top 10 female tennis players and failed a drug test yesterday. The Drug that she had been taking for 10 years prior was banned by the WADA as a part of the 2016 ban list.