Talent is an accident of genes - and a responsibility. –Alan Rickman It has been long debated who or what we should attribute our athleticism to. Is athleticism a product of hard work or a result of athletic parents who passed along athletic genes? Should we attribute athleticism to hard work or science? People generally fall into one of the two categories when explaining athleticism. Athletes are always looking for a competitive advantage in sports. Many athletes have turned to steroids and testosterone boosters to excel performance. Substance users have been labeled cheaters because they have an unfair advantage. Does having a naturally high testosterone level give an athlete a fair advantage? The article I chose, “Time to …show more content…
The XX individual with CAH that has a male appearance would have a severe disadvantage among average male athletes. Whereas testing for steroids results in a simple positive or negative outcome. Testing for gender can prove to be very difficult, because in rare circumstances men and women have both shown to have either XX or XY chromosomes. CAH and AIS can produce what is called “intersex” conditions. Therefore, segregating men and women in sports may be an obsolete method of segregation (Foddy & Savulescu, 2010, p.1185). “Intersex” conditions can create extreme disparities in sports. We segregate men and women in sports to eliminate unfair genetic advantages. Is it then unfair when a genetically female athlete with an intersex condition wins an event? Foddy and Savulesco (2010), offer an option for dealing with natural variation in testosterone. Instead of separating men and women, define a limit based on the level of testosterone in an individual’s blood. Above the limit athletes would compete as men and below the limit athletes would compete as women. This would create a “hormonal level-playing field”. Foddy and Savulesco don’t argue for or against testosterone segregation, they simply discuss the option. People can view sports as a measure of an athlete’s natural ability or the measure of an athlete’s effort and hard work. If we measure athletes on their natural ability, then the winners are the
Steroids will bring more amazing plays and clutch moments in all sports. Steroids can help players have better seasons in terms of stats and it will bring more people out to the stadiums and that will bring more money to the organization. People think that making steroids legal will make sports unfair to play because the athletes on steroids will be a step ahead of the athletes that are not. Steroids should be legal because it will make the sport better and more fun to watch because the players are performing at a higher level.
President George W. Bush says “Steroids are dangerous in sports and steroids send the wrong message: There are shortcuts to accomplishments and performance is more important than character.”
People today go through many different avenues while striving for excellence in sports. Pressure to perform and win can be a heavy burden for players. Every player wants to be the best and become the next superstar of their sport, as Michael Jordan is to basketball. As with many areas of life, the better you perform on the field, the more prestige, money and power you will receive. These rewards are very enticing to young athletes, and many would sacrifice profusely to achieve such goals. Getting to such greatness requires a great amount of time, skill, hard work, and luck. Nevertheless, instead of sacrificing time and hard work, athletes look for the easy way to reach stardom. This seems to be a theme that is growing more common in the realm of sports. Still, some athletes may not be as gifted as others may, so they likely will try to make up for deficiencies by using steroids.
The documentary called Bigger, Stronger, Faster by Chris Bell demonstrates Americas want to be the best vs. their desire to be moral. Throughout the movie Bell uses multiple examples on how steroids affect us both physically and mentally as well as their potential dangers. There are several things that make us American but Bell chooses this particular subject because of his own personally experiences with it as well as his families. As the audience we are taken into a glimpse of the Bell family’s everyday struggle with this emanate problem. Similar to what many of us have to face in society today.
Over the years, the discussion of funding for sports according to sexuality has been confronted. Should men receive more because they are dominate in sports? Should funding be equal? These are both logical questions to be asked.
The issue over steroids and other performance enhancer drugs has been a recent topic in the sports world. The debate over whether or not to punish those who have been caught using has been a major topic recently, as well as the legalization of these drugs. When arising the question of whether or not to legalize steroids, many positive and negative factors are brought to the table, and in effect could change various aspects of our normal day lives.
Physical matureness by and large cause a normal growth in strength, quickness, and size which are significant traits for sport success but the only thing youth sports reveal to us is that some players are maturing more rapidly than others. At the youth level being bigger, stronger, and faster are typically all that is required to stand out in a group of less prepared underdeveloped athletes. But it is not a pure marker in terms of who is really the most gifted
Anabolic-androgenic steroids are a huge problem amongst today’s athletes. The use of these drugs has been around for many years in sports. Understanding anabolic-androgenic steroids and why people take them is needed in the process of trying to eliminate them from professional sports. Also, players knowing and understanding how the negatives of anabolic-androgenic steroid use outweigh the positives will hopefully help new players who are looking for an edge on the competition to refrain from the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Along with the harmful side effects players can experience from anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse, it also hurts the integrity of professional sports as a whole. Allowing players access to intervention programs and treatment can help to curb the widespread use of AAS. My goal in this paper is to show what anabolic-androgenic steroids are, why they impact sports in a negative way, and why they give professional athletes an unfair advantage and shouldn’t be a factor in sports.
Many professional athletes in this era rely on performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids, to take their athletic abilities to the next level. Over the years, steroid abuse in sports has only gotten worse. This is where the controversy occurs because some people think that the usage of steroids should be legalized in sports, while others do not like that idea. The National Institute on Drug Abuse stated that, “Anabolic steroids are related to the male sex hormones such as testosterone. They promote the growth of skeletal muscle and the development of male sexual characteristics in both males and females” (NIDA). This is a brief definition explaining what anabolic steroids are and what they do. Anabolic steroids were first developed in the 1930’s in order to treat a condition in which the testes produced an insufficient amount of testosterone for normal growth and development. Shortly after, lab tests revealed that steroids were very helpful in the growth of muscle tissue. This lead bodybuilders and athletes to use steroids. Steroids are used by athletes in order to improve performance, build lean muscle mass, and increase strength and speed. There are many opinions on whether steroids should be legalized in sports or not. Some people argue that they provide an unfair advantage between athletes, stating that they should be banned. Others argue that steroids don’t provide athletes with skills, emphasizing that athletes achieve them on their own and not with the help of
The United State is a country that thrives on competition. We idolize our sports stars and practically make major athletic events holidays. Children grow up with their favorite athletes plastered to the wall of their bedrooms and dream that one day they will be the next Barry Bonds, Shaqullie O'Neal, or Tom Brady. Professional athletes train year-round to be in ideal psychical shape in order to perform their best. But what happens when their best just isn't good enough? We expect our sports stars to be perfect, upstanding citizens and role models but this isn't always the case. The recent exposure of athletes using steroids has exploded into a phenomenon involving athletes all around the world. It has
In the past three decades, steroids have become a serious problem in the athletic field. The demand for it has increased within recent years and the prices shot up since the mid-1980's. The smuggling of steroids into the United States increases every year. The methods have become easy. Simple methods such as stashing it inside a teddy bear, sneaking it across the Mexican border inside shampoo bottles have worked. These type of steroids are anabolic drugs that build growth hormones that include testosterone, which are the male sex hormones that improve performance.
People are so interested in their sports performance. “Anabolic steroids work by helping the body's muscle cells produce more protein, which as long as the athletes works out, leads to increased muscle size and strength and, at the same time, also allows the body to produce more ATP, the "fuel"muscles need to move.”(Horwitz). “Testosterone is a naturally occurring steroid hormone that not only promotes bone density and muscle growth, but also produces sperm in the testes. ... Perhaps the biggest myth is that choosing testosterone replacement therapy to increase testosterone levels will produce exactly the same side effects as abusing steroids.”(What’s the Difference…). Athletes are always interested in looking good for the crowd and they think they have to look good. “Athletes use drugs for therapeutic and recreational purposes, as supposed ergogenic aids, and to mask the presence of other drugs during testing.”(Abuse of Drugs…). Scientists are making new steroids called Designer steroids that are
Most athletes who take steroids do so in a bid to push the performance competitive advantage ahead of their opponents continued usage of steroids results. Scandals involving steroid use by sports figures are frequent athletes appear willing to risk their health employment, and freedom to gain an “edge” on the competition. Such risk is not surprising given the large financial rewards often involved. The use of performance enhancing drugs is typically covert, thus well-done research showing the effects of anabolic steroids on athletes is rare. Yet testosterone treatment increases muscle, strength, body size and healing rate. These benefits however, are associated with many short-term and long terms risks.
For many years athletes all over the world have strived to increase their capability to succeed in a sport or sports they play. Most train hard, push their limits, dedicate their time solely on sports, others on the other hand, try to succeed with little amount of effort possible. What is being eluded to is the use of illegal steroids in sports. This is an issue all over the world in not only professional teams but also college teams or even high school teams. These steroids give athletes an advantage over all of the other athletes in the world by increasing their physical and mental capability to almost super human levels. Steroid use should remain illegal.
In the past three decades, steroids has been becoming a serious problem more than ever in the athletic field. Steroids are anabolic drug "to build" growth hormones that include the androgens (male sex hormones) principally testosterone and estrogen and progestogens (female sex hormones). Steroids were first developed for medical purposes. They're used in controlling inflammation, strengthening weakened hearts, preventing conception, and alleviating symptoms of arthritis and asthma. Unfortunately research has shown that steroids have been abused in almost every kind of sport. Although steroids contribute to a muscular body, usage should remain illegal because they physically deteriorate and mentally destroy the body.