RJ Cordeiro
Ingrid Fellows
NS4 Fall
11/4/15
Clean or Not?
Whether or not Performing enhancing drugs or PEDs should be allowed in professional sports is one of the most widely discussed topics amongst fans and league officials. It brings a lot of controversy as well as a lot of upside. Many people argue that there is an unfair advantage amongst “clean” athletes while others say that there are many health benefits given to the athletes taking these drugs. As most things in our society, there are many things that have pros and cons to their use, it is just a matter of opinion and risk one is going to have to take if they are willing to go down that road.
PEDs in sporting events can be dated all the way back to the ancient Greeks.
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It wasn’t until the late 19th century that drugs were prepared with the intention of helping athletes. French cyclists and lacrosse players would drink a mixture of wine and coca leaf extract to prevent fatigue during their long races and matches and prolong their bodies exertion. In 1904, these PEDs had reached the modern olympics for the first time with mixtures of strychnine, heroin, cocaine, and caffeine used widely by athletes which led to each coach or team developing its own unique secret formula for their athletes. This was common practice until heroin and cocaine became a prescribed medication in the 1920s. In 1958, the FDA approved its first Anabolic steroid for sale in the US. This anabolic steroid called Dianabol was released by Ciba Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Zieglar, The scientist behind Dianabol, noted the success of the Russian weightlifting team due to the use of testosterone in 1954 and began experimenting on US weightlifters. His creation maximized the strength-building properties of testosterone while minimizing the negative health effects from other testosterone boosters. These newly found drugs were just the beginning to the “doping” age that we know of to this day. As bad of a reputation as these performance enhancing drugs may have, there are many reasons to why they are very useful and impactful to one’s career. Many athletes want to be the best and will go the farthest
In sports, the competitive drive to win can be very intensive between athletes. Winning in the game usually brings rewards to athletes both financially and psychologically. Such temptations and the consecutive pressures faced by athletes to excel in the sporting events, attempts to achieve a rival edge especially when the application of performance enhancing drugs by athletes in sports activities has becoming a new trend and relatively common. Performance enhancing drugs are used so athletes could achieve better results with least efforts, even as their health and their athletic careers will be placed in danger. That explains why athletes, sports people and body builders turn to performanc enhancing drugs.
Performance-enhancing drugs (PED 's) have been an issue for many decades now for the medical and sports field. Olympic and professional athletes have been using them to gain an upper hand on the competition, but some may ask if it 's really worth it? Studies show that performance-enhancing drugs have been proven to negatively affect the health of athletes who take them. Simply put, performance-enhancing drugs could either improve athletic performance or can be extremely dangerous, in certain situations, deadly. There have been strict rules and drug testing in the professional sporting organizations, as well as in world competitions. For example, in the summer of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, in two of the
The use of PEDs is illegal in sports, I believe that it should stay that way. Many athletes have had their lives ruined from PEDs loosing the ones they love or dying themselves, and there are many horrible side effects that include, mental problems, and even death. Also, when someone is taking PEDs and another isn’t in say football then the person who isn’t could get very hurt, in short PEDs should just be dropped out of professional sports. If PEDs stay in professional sports (illegally) then many more people will die. Weather it is from another person or yourself. Having PEDs in professional sports give the athlete side effects that are hard to live with, doesn’t even guarantee that the drugs will work-the risks are high and the chances of it being good are low- they set a bad example for kids and teens around the world who look up to the pro athletes who take PEDs, lastly it will hurt the other athlete or yourself.
Mr. Smith states “The primary reason why performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are outlawed in professional sports is that they give users an unfair advantage over the rest of the field” and that “legalizing PEDs would make life much easier for professional sports organizations currently
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.
The harmful physical and mental health effects that coincide with the usage of performance enhancing drugs explain why PEDs should stay out of the hands
The use of Performance Enhancing Drugs(PED) has a major impact on athletes negatively and cause many problems in sports and competitions. These PEDs should be banned for athletes and competitors on any level because they are, unhealthy and harmful to the body, give users an edge over competitors, and it diminishes the true sportsmanship of the game itself.
Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Lance Armstrong are all athletes that have even been accused of or admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. Many associate the word Performance Enhancing Drugs or steroids to athletes, which is actually a common misconception. PEDs are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans and since 776 B.C.E, people have been taking them. The Greeks first used them in the Olympic games to gain an advantage over the other professionals competing. Around 100 A.D., Roman Gladiators also used stimulants to prevent fatigue and improve the fight’s intensity. The act of taking these drugs really started in 1904 when every Olympic team developed their own formula, which mainly consisted
As spectators, we push athletes to their absolute best, where doping is needed to reach those heights (Steadman). Everyone wants to see the best competitor. Eventually, natural athletes will reach a wall. Then there comes the question of how to keep sports interesting (Steadman). The PEDs would increase playing competition and allow athletes to reach those heights to entertain us at a great level (Hoffman). The people are complicit in turning the sport into an entertainment industry in which winning is everything (Cashmore). Everyone wants to be a winner. Steroids improve the effects of training, allowing them to produce more effective training (Steadman). The Anabolic Steroid, Androgen, is used as a lower dosage. But is shows that muscular strength could be improved by five to twenty percent (Savulescu and others). During the steroid era, 5693 home runs were hit. This could be reproduced in the future if PEDs are legalized (Hoffman). “Baseball should sponsor the use of steroids.” (Uni Wire) In 1992, Nicky Rabinowicz found out that Olympic athletes, in general, believed most successful athletes were using banned substances (Savulescu and others). This is a third reason why PEDS should be legalized in sports.
Do you feel that PED’s should be allowed in sport? The problem is that players use PED’s or Performance Enhancing Drugs to get an advantage over their opponents. Despite the advances in technology for discovering PED’s, there is still a great number of people who get away with PED’s. Many people continue to use PED’s and will continue to use them until they get caught, and even after they get caught. Performance enhancing drugs should not be allowed in sports, resulting in more fair competition.
In almost every sport today, people are abusing the game by using PED's (Performance Enhancing Drugs). These athletes doing this are cheating the sport by using illegal drugs that help peak their performance and give them an unfair advantage over the athletes who are playing the game correctly. An example of this is a baseball player using a steroid to increase his bat speed allowing him to hit the ball farther and harder. These PED's are becoming more and more prominent in the world of competition and are turning some sports heroes into sports cheaters.
Over the years, sports have changed dramatically. One major change has been the use of performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). This is a very controversial issue in all levels of sports today. Some people think this is a good thing to allow, while some think the complete opposite. Whenever sports were first becoming very popular, the use of PED’s were not available. There were no drugs to alter an athlete's performance on the field or court because the technology was simply not available to produce these. Although the drugs were not available, the sports were still interesting to watch and the athletes still played at a very high level. They did not need drugs to make themselves better because no one was using them which made the playing field
Using performance enhancing drugs have become the major part of any athletic life since the early Greek time. The first attempt for
The definition of performance enhancing substances is simple. They are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. They are substances used to make you increase in skill in physical activity. The case that is being presented presenting is the fact that too many athletes in major league sports are using too many performance enhancing substances and people aren’t doing anything about it. Athletes shouldn’t be allowed to increase their strength with some substance that doesn’t require work. My reasonings for this case is the cause of health issues, providing an unfair advantage, and lastly, it sets a bad example. Therefore athletes in major league sports should not be allowed to use performance enhancing substances.
Performance enhancing drugs (PED) are a delicate subject in the world today. Many people have opposing views to the topic of steroids in sports. The sports world is invested with people who use these performance enhancing drugs from an early age to increase strength, speed, and overall ability. However, there is positives and negatives to this.