The eight hour a day conditioning, the five a.m. workouts, the strict diet, the intense focus, the missing out on important life milestones. These are all apart of the life of a professional athlete. These careers take many years of impossible training and dedication, but what if a pill could reduce the amount of time spent in the gym. Throughout their careers, Lance Armstrong, Jose Canseco, and Marion Jones all used personal enhancement devices to try and achieve the American Dream of personal wealth and success, but ultimately lost all of their accomplishments due to laws cracking down on steroid use. Steroids are often used to treat tissue damage or inflammation, but they are also used illegally in professional sports. Sometimes the …show more content…
He began as “an eighteen-year-old cycling prodigy when he moved to Austin not long after graduating from high school, in 1989” (Hall). Soon after winning many major races, Armstrong began to receive sponsorships from many major brands including Nike, Budweiser, and Trek (major cycling brand). In total these sponsorships were worth about 50 million dollars. About seven years later, at what was expected to be the top of his career, “Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which had spread to his lungs” (Hall). His cancer diagnosis was extremely grim with only a fifty percent chance of survival. At this time, Nike began to make the yellow Livestrong bracelets that would soon become a hit phenomenon all around the world. After surviving the disease, Armstrong turned his cancer story into the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to focus on the probability of success instead of the probability of the patient’s death. This turned the organization into a way of life for many survivors with Ride for Roses, a bike race that made cancer survivors “get their old bikes out of the garage and ride with their hero” (Hall). After his battle with cancer, Armstrong went on to win “Tour after Tour, and as he morphed into a mega brand” he began to get nationwide publicity (Hall). Throughout the years, Armstrong appeared on Wheaties boxes, twenty-four hour fitness gyms, and even the extremely popular Austin …show more content…
During the investigation of Armstrong, the “USADA released its one-thousand-page report, with affidavits from eleven former teammates who said that they and Lance had used performance-enhancing drugs” (Hall). These affidavits proved that during the multiple Tour De Frances that Armstrong and the US Postal Team won, most everyone on the team had used some kind of steroid. During his interview with Oprah, Armstrong admitted that as “the leader of the team, and the leader leads by example” in respect to the drug use (Lance Armstrong on Oprah Part 1). By being the leader of the team, many individuals looked up to Armstrong and when he decided to use the drugs, they either did them with him or turned a blind eye. After the series of affidavits, Lance “was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from elite competition” (Lance Armstrong on Oprah Part 1). By losing the Tour de France titles, he lost a part of his American Dream which was the personal success. In addition, Armstrong also lost all of his sponsorships from many companies including Nike, Nissan, and finally after several months Oakley also dropped him. By losing his sponsorships, Armstrong also lost a projected 150 million dollars in possible earnings. Currently Armstrong lives in Austin with his three
Lance Armstrong is one of the best cyclist there is. He was in many races over the world. He has won many awards in many races. He also had many companies sponsoring him. But all that was taken away and his reputation was ruined when he was caught doping.
Steroids cannot only affect its users and abusers, but may also affect those who associate with them. In a recent documentary about Lance Armstrong called The Armstrong Lie, it’s revealed of many people who were ruined from trying to cross him. From interviewers, to other cyclists and even his own former teammate Frankie Andreu. Andreu who played a role in the USADA’s investigation of Armstrong’s doping practices by testifying in the case revealed that after doing so a lot of people wouldn’t look at him or even shake his hand because of his allegations and he felt as though he was shunned from the planet. Lance Armstrong mislead and deceived his fans and the world in what is
Steroid abuse has become a huge problem in professional sports today. Athletes are now using steroids to gain a competitive edge over their opponents. Also, the athletes are using the steroids to recover quickly from major injuries or surgeries. Many former superstar athletes have been caught taking steroids during the season and offseason.
They are abused by both athletes and non-athletes in an attempt to “enhance performance and/or physical appearance” (“NIDA InfoFacts: Steroids (Anabolic-Androgenic)”, 2009). Steroids, typically taken orally or by injection, are used in “cycles” where a user takes steroids for a period of time, then stops for another length of time and then the pattern continues. Steroids are considered very dangerous, fickle substances that have the potential to mess up the user’s bodily functions if care is not taken while on them.
Steroids (anabolic) are a drug that was discovered and made by medical scientists in the last 1930’s to help with medical problems. The drug was made to help with many medical problems such as testosterone, growth, sexual functioning, and other medical problems such as helping people with HIV to help grow musical. It also helps with many other diseases. Like any other drug on the market people learn that the drug can be used for many other ways. Steroids can enhance athlete’s performance as well as bodybuilders and is used in almost every sport out there. The use of steroids has become a widespread problem. Steroid use has caused many help problems with the misuse of the drug and has caused the drug to be illegal for people to use them in
Steroids are used for sports, or any sort of body building. Athletes use steroids because they believe it gives them a more competitive edge on other athletes. They do not fear the consequences of what could happen to their body. Athletes only think of the upside to what they are getting. Some examples of athletes that have used steroids are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Lance Armstrong, to name a few. Many people speculated Barry Bonds taking PED’s, but when he was tested ,there was nothing found. Then the idea of undetectable steroids came up. “When told that he has never failed a steroid test, as others have failed, they argue that some steroids are undetectable.”( Coleman,18). Steroids may have lifted Barry’s career, but there will always be a dent in his
A number of prominent athletes have recently experienced a 'fall from grace,' because of the revelation that they used performance-enhancing drugs. Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon is Lance Armstrong. In an advertisement for Nike that his former sponsor now no doubt regrets, Armstrong is shown asking the viewer "what am I on? I'm on my bike, busting my ass six hours a day." Professional cycling is often cited as one of the sports in which doping is most endemic to its subculture, however a number of professional sports have been embroiled in drug scandals. Because of the many revelations about the number of baseball players who used steroids to get their record-breaking statistics, the 1990s are often called the 'steroid' era of baseball. The Olympic track and field star Marian Jones was stripped of her medals, after finally admitting to the use of performance-enhancing drugs (Lardon 2008). "Despite the health risks, and despite the regulating bodies' attempts to eliminate drugs from sport, the use of illegal substances is widely known to be rife. It hardly raises an eyebrow now when some famous athlete fails a dope test" (Savulescu, Foddy, & Clayton 2004).
The competitive drive to win at all cost is fierce among athletes. Winning at all cost often includes using one of many performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. Many athletes use performance enhancing drugs, like steroids, to achieve higher goals and set higher records than other drug-free successful athletes. Although athletes are performing at higher levels when using such drugs, what is the cost? Finally anabolic steroids should remain banned from sports because their use results in many harmful side effects; because their use violates sports regulations, and because their use can cause death.
Steroids not only affect the body but also the mind too. It is proven that when an athlete takes steroids they tend to be more of an aggressive person in society’s eyes. The advantage of having an aggressive behavior is that the abuser is more focused and trains more intensely. The bad part about taking steroids is that the person becomes easily irritated and impatient. Even after an athlete stops using steroids they seem to develop depression because they experience withdraw symptoms. It is against federal law to use steroids without a prescription. Professional athletes usually do not think about how much trouble steroids can give them. In 1990, President George W. Bush signed a bill to put steroids in the category of methamphetamines, opium and morphine. If someone would get caught using steroids they could be punished up to one year in prison, a twenty thousand dollar fine, and a year of drug classes (New Law…).
Abstract: With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent. The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change. No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent. Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids.
When you were a kid, didn’t you want to play a professional sport? What would you give to be one of the best athletes in the world? Would you risk your reputation? Your health? Would you be willing to die? Although many studies have come out saying that steroids diminish one’s health, people still take them hoping to be the best. Imagine if you were a 28 year old who left college early because a pro team “guaranteed” you that you would play in the big leagues. Yet you just got stuck in the minors, and the only way you could get to the big’s was to take a pill that made you super-strong and super-fast. It would make sense to just take it. But what if that pill shrunk your testicles, hurt your heart and vascular system, and made
This paper explores the novel Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh, who published the novel at the end of 2012. This novel is about Walsh’s journey as he follows Lance Armstrong and his life as a cyclist for 13 years as Lance deals with critics and skepticisms about his correlation with doping. Lance Armstrong was a glorified athlete who won many Tour de France titles after conquering testicular cancer. He was widely appreciated for cycling, but many people were questioning how he was able to make such a comeback after his cancer diagnosis. This book explores what happens from David Walsh’s point of view and the struggles he had to face as a Tour de France sports journalist: whether he should just celebrate Armstrong’s victories or question his usage of drugs. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief summary of the novel, and to reflect on the novel while still linking it to the issues and concepts of drugs and cheating in sports.
In 1997, Lance Armstrong was officially formed and now known as Livestrong Foundation, has influenced millions of lives over the years. The foundation has fought on behalf of the cancer patients in policy debates and stigma many cancer survivors throughout the world face. Under the leadership of Lance Armstrong, the foundation was able to raise millions of dollars for cancer patients and he was always vigorously fighting for these people in the congress and United Nations. The foundation was able to create an international presence in
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.
Armstrong was an American hero, he battled cancer, beat it and came back to prove himself as one of the greatest athletes of all time. Lance had won 7 Tour de France within his career and founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He was what we pictured when we pictured a fighter, an American hero. Armstrong has shown us his blood, sweat and tears, had built not only the credibility but the goodwill. In the blink of an eye, all of it was gone. It was revealed that Armstrong had been taking performance enhancements to win his races. In one day he had lost 8 sponsorships, he had built his relationships on being a winner, a fighter, accomplishing things no ordinary person could. Admitting to lying to the world meant his credibility vanished. How can you stand behind a man who can’t tell the