The Greatest Accomplishment Of Lance Armstrong At The Tour De France

Athletes use performance enhancing drugs to boost their game. The professionals who use these drugs are ruining the integrity of the game. Many people don’t understand why professional athletes would go to such extreme measures to be better when they have already proven themselves. Athletes are just taking away from their natural ability by using these dangerous drugs. The risk of using performance enhancing drugs is a lot greater than the reward, because an athlete’s reputation could be tarnished and their career ruined. Money is one of the major reasons why players use them; if they perform at levels higher than what their natural abilities could do they will be offered a large sum of money.

“Commentators claim that performance-enhancing drugs are not right or wrong, simply another strategy to improve performance” (Introduction to Performance-Enhancing Drugs). There are two main problems wrong with the use of drugs being legal. Health of athletes would drop devastatingly, and the true competition would become who gets lucky. “Some mourn the loss of yesterday's baseball heroes, while others argue that sport figures who use performance-enhancing drugs expose flaws in American culture” (Introduction to Performance-Enhancing

“Why it’s time to legalize steroids in professional sports” written by Chris Smith of Forbes Magazine argues that to level the playing field of professional sports it would be beneficial to legalize the use of performance enhancing drugs. Mr. Smith’s ideals that professional sports would be a fairer, more entertaining version of itself if performance enhancing drugs were legal, is an incredibly irresponsible and impudent declaration.

No matter the sport, most athletes seek every competitive advantage to make it to the top. One of the main advantages is the performance athletes gain through drug use, and a big question today is the real purpose behind the drugs. Is an athlete truly just trying to enhance his or her performance to make it to the next level, or is there a deeper meaning, a problem with body image and how the public views these athletes, or a combination of both? According to an article on the Dilemmas of Doping, the rules in sports have two effects, “One is private: rules produce an entertaining game that generates private benefits for players, owners, and especially spectators. The other is social: rules tend to reward play that exhibits self-discipline, sacrifice for the good of the whole, and fair play.” ( qtd in Bird, Edward J and Gert G. Wagner). An athlete not only is rewarded by fair play, but winning without cheating, using drugs, etc. is the ultimate feeling of accomplishment. These athletes may have a sense that without stimulants they will never reach the top and feel like they have no other choice.

The most commonly discussed issue in sports of the 21st century is the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes. Over the past four years, it has been nearly impossible to turn on the television without hearing something about athletes and these drugs. From former National League MVP Third Baseman Ken Caminiti's admission of steroid use in an issue of Sports Illustrated (Verducci, 2004) to 2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis being stripped of title due to a failed doping test (Blue, 2006) virtually every sport is involved. Are performance enhancing drugs a substance that threatens the very existence of professional sports, or are they the future? Perhaps the issue

The reference explains how performance enhancing drugs diminish the idea of participation and promote ONLY winning, ruins the ‘spirit of sport’, pose severe health risks, promote unhealthy and dangerous behaviour, and questions the ethical issues of drug advertising/ sponsorship if doping were allowed in

In the past couple of years, many athletes in different sports have been caught using performance-enhancing drugs. When an athlete tests positive for performance-enhancing drugs it is usually one that is well known. Furthermore, there have been many instances never reported. It has come to a point where an athlete is doing really well in his sport, speculations on the use of steroids or other performing-enhancing drugs arise, the bothersome thing about sports today is that the speculations may very well be true. The usage of steroids, and other performance-enhancing drugs, is precarious. While it has enhanced the entertainment value of sports, it also has

According to Stewart and Smith (2014) “Media feeding-frenzies, have encouraged a number of sporting bodies to introduce anti-doping regulations” (p. 187). With this enforcement, it has allowed the media to create a misconception in portraying the use of AS negatively in professional sports. Many athletes are labeled as drug abusers and sport cheaters. For example, Marion Jones a U.S. Olympian, Roger Clemens a base ballplayer (MLB), Lance Armstrong a professional road racing cyclist, and other athletes who have used some kind of steroid enhancement to elevate their career. Nevertheless, athletes who use enhancement drugs are stigmatized by society who does not consider the benefits of what the drug

In early 2013 Lance Armstrong’s face dominated the headlines. Reporters condemned him, public figures shamed him and fans lost faith in this once great athlete. He was a maverick, a man that did everything to safeguard him first place in the tour de France races but ultimately lost his seven fold winner title. When allegation were put forward his response was a product of meticulous rebuttals and elaborate lies. Many of us see steroids as dangerous illegal substances, however, it is clear that a sizeable proportion of people are drawn to steroid in an attempt at success. These unorthodox success-grazed individuals will often use synthetic drugs such as HGH (human growth hormone), anabolic steroids, testosterone boosters or synthol to gain an unfair advantage in a particular sport against natural competitors. Steroids are a relatively new invention and are still undergoing laboratory analysis yet this shows how people will do anything for a yellow jersey, trophy or gold medal.

Sports illustrated interviewed a cohort (group of people) of elite Olympic athletes, asking, “If you were given a performance-enhancing substance, you would not be caught, and you would win, would you take it? Ninety-eight percent of athletes answered yes.”(Charleston) That is a big number. Big risk with such a small chance of success. Taking drugs to enhance your performance is just not right. Striving to get better, takes patience and perseverance. Athletes are known for their road they take to get to where they are today. Along with jail time, athletes that commit illegal acts should be banned from their sport, for their careers will never be the same, children should not look up to athletes who do those things, and the chance of losing

They argue that performance enhancing drugs remove the morality and dignity within sport as the element of raw talent and skill disappears. Antidoping laws generally exist in order to provide a safe and fair environment for participation in sport (Allhoff 2009). These laws should prevent and protect athletes from subjecting themselves to health risks through the use of performance enhancing drugs. It is believed that performance enhancing drugs have the power to overcome differences in natural talents and the willingness to sacrifice and persevere in the quest to perfect those talents. These drugs are dangerous and although certain drugs have the potential to increase athletic performance, they carry the risk of side effects, which may include death and life-long morbidity. Sports that hold historical records and comparisons with them would become irrelevant by drug-aided athletes who would completely obliterate the old standards (Orchard 2006). A cycle would begin where athletes would be encouraged to take more and more drugs in other to keep up with the rapidly growing standard that comes with performance enhancement. It would create pressure for more athletes to ‘cheat’, undermining the basis for the competitions at stake and exacerbating the gap between those who can afford enhancements and those who cannot (Juengst 2015). Ethically, the sense of fair competition would be lost if performance enhancement was decriminalised as there would be no ceiling as to how far one could go to enhance themselves chemically for their chosen sport. Sport without antidoping laws would also disadvantage further those athletes who wanted to compete at an elite level without risking their health. Performance enhancement has the potential to create a public health catastrophe, whilst we would

The debate over athletes using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs has always been a hot-button issue in the sports world. From major league athletes in baseball and football; to track stars and bicyclist in the Olympics, the use of steroids in sports has been a wide-range problem. Those who disagree with the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs say that the athletes who use them are breaking the rules and getting an unfair advantage over others. Opponents of steroids say the athletes are endangering not only their own health, but also indirectly encouraging youngsters to do the same (Katz, 2008). On the opposite side, supporters of steroids say that the risk to athletes using

Performance-Enhancing Drugs should not be allowed in today’s sports. Today`s athletes are looking for an advantage over there competition that will help them be winners. There here have been several debates about allowing athletes to use Performance-Enhancing Drugs, but personally, I think the commissioners of all sports are doing a fantastic job of not allowing it to be legal. Performance-Enhancing Drugs can be regarded in four classes: androstenedione, creatine, anabolic steroids, and ephedra alkaloids. If athletes take these kinds of drugs, they gain an advantage on their opponent. Some drugs are used to increase muscle mass, allow faster oxygen delivery to the muscles, or allow them to have a longer career in their sports profession. This should not be the

In J. Savulescu, B.Foddy and M.Clayton’s “Why We Should Allow Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports” (published 2004), we see their view on how performance enhancing drugs can make the sporting world a better and a much more equitable field to play in. They imply that, because of our current technological advancements, it has become easier to use performance enhancing drugs without feeling the severe side effects they used to cause. The author’s also suggest that since the punishment is just a meager six months to a year ban, while players are still being given an opportunity to earn millions in the future, banning performance enhancing drugs is a waste of time. Overall, they imply that Doping should be an action that should be embraced

This is a material world promoting material values, thus meaning that it should not be surprising to see individuals being willing to do everything in their power in order to make profits. Or should it? The sports community today is troubled by a series of athletes who have yielded to society's pressures and abandoned their principles with the purpose of taking performance enhancing drugs. It is difficult to determine if it would be normal for the masses to judge these individuals, concerning that they are actually one of the reasons for which these people have come to consider taking performance enhancing drugs in the first place. However, the only ones who can judge them are other hard-working sportspersons who have stood by their principles and who respect the idea of sport in general.