The Use of Illegal Drugs in Sports Essay examples

Miller’s purpose for writing the book Ancient Greek Athletics is to teach the audience about ancient Greek Games and how this important subject can teach us more about our own world. He accomplishes this goal by using the artifacts he has studied along with the history itself to guide the audience in their journey toward appreciating Greek heritage. In this book, Miller addresses the Olympic Games that began more than twenty-five hundred years ago. I learned many different things throughout this book including: the participants, all the different athletic

The olympic games were held every four years and lasted for five days. The first day was for sacrifices and the festivals, while the judges and competitors took oaths of fair dealing. The next three days were competition days, men competed in running, jumping, wrestling, horse and chariot, and pankration. The final day was for sacrifices, and a banquet was held for the winners. The winners received a crown of wild olive. Days before the Olympics people from all over Greece traveled to Olympia and camped on the plains. During this time wars were stopped or postponed three months in advance so everyone could travel to the games safely. The entertainment of the Olympics games brought Ancient Greek civilization together.

From the worldly perspective, people can be inclined to compromise ethical beliefs for their perceived benefit in doing so. In this case, having a coach ignoring performance enhancing drug use to continue a winning record, and teammates that are “pushing” the use creates tension for a developing athlete. Just because a substance is not yet illegal does not make it “right” to consume; the substance still offers an advantage over those who are not using it. “One hundred percent of community sports instructors…reported that they have a role to play in preventing doping” (Backhouse, 2012, p.170). With this knowledge, it becomes clear that there is a negative connotation associated with using performance enhancing drugs, and for good reason, “94% of community sports instructors indicated that doping should be outlawed due to its negative effects on health” (Backhouse, 2012, p.170).

Drugs in sports is becoming a problem everywhere. “Another 26-year old athlete died of liver cancer after taking a number of different types of steroids over a four year period ” (Drugs and…). This is significant because this shows how dangerous drugs can be. If we have drug testing in schools this student could still be alive and would have stopped drugs before it got bad. The evidence points to the fact that drugs are a major health risk that is very concerning. In some cases taking drugs can even lead to death. In addition, another situation took place that affected a college student named Bob. Bob tried everything to gain weight so he could play football, so he chose to try steroids like everyone else. Steroids got him to play professional football, but horrible things were happening to him. He was having serious health problems. Bob quit drugs and is lucky to be alive (Drugs and…). This connects to the fact that doing drugs is a major

The Olympic games were an athletic competition help in Greece around every four years from 776 B.C.E. In 776 B.C.E, the first olympics were held in Athens where many competitors clashed during the sporting events. The olympics then stopped in 393 C.E. due to Theodosius I’s orders on stopping the olympic events. Later during 1896, the modern olympics began to take place. The olympics were different from the ancient olympics in that the competition was shaped due to social, political, and economic reasons.

The Greeks set up athletic events in honor of Zeus for which the Olympics was made.

“…medical researchers believe that between 1 and 3 million youths and adults have taken anabolic steroids in one form or another specifically to enhance their looks or athletic performances,” stated Nuwer (Nuwer, 61). As astounding as these figures are, the number of performance drug users is steadily increasing. With this progressively increasing numbers, it is projected that millions more will use steroids in the immediate future (Newer, 61). Athletes have always sought an advantage in competition even if ignoring the law and their health if necessary. Using drugs of any sort to facilitate an athlete’s athletic ability should be illegal. The use of performance enhancing drugs is not only detrimental to the user but it also creates an

Greek athletics were a vital part of ancient society along with war, education, and many other things. Not only was the the life of many Greeks but this was an area of life that was very important to many Greeks. Ancient Greeks paid their athletes because athletes needed compensation for essentially their career that they chose, as other chose to be a merchant or soldier even, some chose to be an athlete. For example, if soldiers, merchants, and messengers can be compensated in monetary value then the athletes can be paid.

In the days when steroids were only being used by body builders and professional wrestlers, stories about performance enhancing drugs could only be found on the back pages of the newspapers. When former Oakland Raiders All-Pro Lyle Alzado admitted to steroid use in a 1991 Sports Illustrated article the whispers about what professional athletes were using steroids began to get louder. (Puma, 2005) Finally, in 2002, when Caminiti, a former MVP, came clean, two things were clear; athletes in all sports were using these drugs, and that they worked. The fact that steroid use had permeated our national pastime combined with the media explosion of the internet and 24 hour a day sports talk created a perfect storm which created the biggest sports story of the new millennium so far. However, two other facts remained clear, performance enhancing drugs were old news, and athletes in all sports from all over the world had been using them for years.

While there are clear contrasts between the ancient and the modern Olympics there is still the respect for the athlete striving to perform at the highest level. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest carnival of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These important elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention, as the first Olympics was in 776 BC in Ancient Greece. After 1503 years, in 1896 the Olympic Games were recreated as what we know today. The Ancient Games were once dedicated to the Olympian God, Zeus Olympios and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, which is also how the word ‘Olympics’ originated from. The modern Olympics is the largest international sporting event, which feature both summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of respectable athletes from over 200 different nations compete against one another. There are clear contrast between the modern and ancient forms of the Olympic Games regarding uniforms, participants, religion, events, politics and the concept of amateurism. However both the Ancient Greeks and the people in the modern world still respect and admire the athletics achievements of the participants making the Olympics the most highly regarded contest in sport.

One exceptionally significant custom of the Greeks still observed today is the Olympics. These ancient games incorporated a concept of free athletic competition without bloodshed. If the Greeks

Every two years we crowd around our televisions for a month, watching the greatest athletes in the world compete to see who is the best. During this time our lives revolve around the games and the athletes competing in them. Thousands of years ago, from 8th century BC to 4th century AD, the Olympics were held in Olympia,Greece. Any person could compete in these, as long as you were a free, male, Greek citizen. Married women weren't even allowed to watch the games, but unmarried could. These games were religious, held for their God Zeus. Every four years the games took place in Olympia, and there were never more than 10 events that were held. They only lasted for a day, but over time they increased to five days. Either on the last day, or at

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.

The killing of 100 oxen, race in complete body armor, or the whipping of an athlete is caught cheating. This may all seem a little weird to us, but it was normal in ancient Greece.They also participated in many games that we do today such as javelin, wrestling, and sprints. Much like what we do today the athletes had many years to train with some of the best coaches. Unlike today they will only give out medals to the first place winner and the first place winner only.

Do you like fairs or big parties with fun games? Over one thousand years ago people from Greece shared the same interest. The Greeks loved festivals and competitions, but they were put on for a different reason. They were put on to worship their gods, but that did not stop them from competing in competitions. Greeks had lots of competitions ranging from sports to acting. Greek Sports and Drama festivals were the most important aspect of the Greeks.