Tour de France Drug Abuse

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

A particular topic that remains controversial is the use of ‘Lasix’ (an anti-bleeding medication) in US horse racing, questioning the purity of the sport.

The use of drugs date back to the ancient Olympic games. This is where the word doping originated from which was the Greek word “doop” (CITE). Performance enhancing substances also known as steroids are used for the improvement of human activity. Because drug use is also a huge thing outside the United States the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) was created as the first international governing body to prohibit doping. However, at the 1960’s Olympic the first athlete to die of doping was of the name Knut Jensen. He was a Danish cyclist who was found with narcotics in his system which resulted to his death. In result, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established to fight doping. The United States created their own anti-doping agency called United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Therefore, drug testing is an important factor in professional sports world-wide.

The Olympics now have various organizations and committees delegated to testing for and eliminating the use of performance enhancing drugs. The most recent Olympic committee for the Games in Vancouver was partnered with the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, L’Institut national de la recherche scientifique — Institut Armand-Frappier, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, and LifeLabs to collect and test approximately 2450 blood and urine samples (“Anti-Doping Initiatives”). Their meticulousness and commitment was most definitely justified. Olympic athletes implicitly agree to a social contract of fair competition. Those athletes who take steroids have an unfair advantage over those who do not, and therefore these athletes are breaking this social contract.

It also showed the consequences of cheating as he was stripped of his Tour de France wins. I believe that doping isn’t acceptable, especially in cycling. I feel like the people who legitimately train hard to be professional cyclers are being cheated, and I feel like the sport needs to be taken more seriously since many people believe that many cyclers are doping. Cycling is a great sport that takes years of training to be a professional, so I believe that if the UCI and the Tour de France committees take the sport more seriously than before, the sport could be more enjoyable for everyone

When it comes down to it he took steroids and testosterone and because of it won seven consecutive Tour De Frances. He won his first in 1999 and won every year up to and including 2005. He had been accused of drugs many times but every time he blatantly lied and said he had never taken any illegal substances. There had been many investigations and many old teammates planned to testify against him. But he kept pleading innocent. On August 24, 2012, the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Association) stripped him of his seven Tour wins and all honours won between 1999 and 2005 and they banned him from sport for life. He then came out in an interview with Oprah about all his past drug uses. This is totally unacceptable and is sending unacceptable messages to children as celebrities or sportspeople influence them a lot when they are young. He is influencing them that drugs are okay and that lying is acceptable. Therefore it is clear that Lance Armstrong is an appalling role model as he promotes lying and drug

Everyone has heard of Lance Armstrong, famous cyclist who won Tour de France 7 consecutive time in a row. Impressive, right? It would be if hadn’t won those competitions with the help of blood doping and drug use. Lance Armstrong was stripped of his title and bronze Olympic medal for the illegal athletic gain and his reputation went to absolute shambles. Steroid use in professional sports is not allowed and results in consequences, varying by sport; but in the Olympics, as The Baltimore Sun states, it takes two positive drug tests to be banned for life from anymore olympic competing.

Substance Use & Misuse, written by Michael S. Bahrke (2012) examines the issue of drug use by athletes and intervention programs effectiveness. Bahrke (2012) clearly delineates the difficulties faced by doping athletes, the athletic organization, and the public. Sports organization depend on the athlete's performance and positive public perception to flourish. Therefore, it is not in the athlete best interest to admit or seek help with drug addiction because of most organizations’ policies regarding doping, most are in line with the WADA banning

What made this incident of sports doping so monumental was the scandalous denials and self-proclaimed innocence. When the whole truth finally surfaced, it blackened Armstrong’s reputation and soiled his cycling achievements forever, making it one of the biggest sports doping scandals in history.

In Chapter 18 of Social Issues in Sport, Woods mentions how the first encounter with performance-enhancing drugs dates back to ancient times. This portrays how the usage of these drugs has become common within the sports world. Despite the fact that using performance-enhancing drugs is unfair in sport, I feel that it portrays the risk athletes are willing to take to win and be the best. This week we learned about the serious consequences that occur if an athlete is caught taking these medications. The consequences of taking these drugs range from getting their awards confiscated to legal action. There are similar consequences when it comes to situations involving the act of bribery. For example, during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the entire committee was replaced because of allegations that members were trying to influence voters through illegal means. Thus, when it comes to cheating in sport, it is not only athletes who engage in this deviant behavior, but also outside

Think back to 1999. The Foo Fighters were one of the most popular bands in the United States, Bart Simpson starred on thousands of Americans television screens and that summer, Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France. With his win, the world started to question his ability and how amazingly he ascended into the Alps. The thought of illegal, sport enhancing drugs came about. Drugs are a form of cheating, so it was not fair. It was not the first hearing of the drug, but it was the first at the turn of the century. Doping has been around for many years. Humans will continue to use illegal substances, no doubt about that, however if we imply stricter regulations, it will make it harder for athletes to cheat.

For instance, famous cyclist Lance Armstrong was known for being one of the best cyclist every until the public found out that he used PED’s. In the article Mike Austin says, “ Armstrong has been stripped of all seven of his Tour De France titles” (n.pag). This shows that because Lance Armstrong used PEDs during his career to improve his performance, all the titles he won were taken away from him. Now all the time and hard work that Lance put into training his whole life means nothing now. Not only had PED’s affected Lance Armstrong's life but also and Olympic sprinter named Ben Johnson. In the article “Drugs and Athletes” it states that “ Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his gold medal in 1988 after testing positive for PED’s” ( n.pag). Ben had been training his whole life for an opportunity like this, to win a gold medal. But he ruined that opportunity by use PED’s and now everything he has trained for and all the hours put into it is all wasted because he took the drugs. Not only can medals and titles be taken away from athletes because of using PED’s but athletes can lose a good reputation and lose fans. Stephen Mumford says in his article “The use of Performance Enhancing Drugs is Cheating” that, “ Lance Armstong… Some purchasers of his autobiography have demanded

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 athletes who use drugs are cheating. They disobey the law and escape the punishment due to the advanced technology which makes it harder to detect the drugs. So, more and more athletes choose to improve their performance by this way. Furthermore, athletes show no respect to themselves and spectators if they take in drugs before the competition. Maybe they do not believe that they have the ability to achieve good results after hard training or can not bear the pressure of failure due to less training. What the spectators want to see is the real ability of the athletes though they also want to watch excellent competitions. In addition, the athletes who use drugs will never experience the joy and fun during the competitions and training. For the athletes who want to use drugs in games, what they are thinking about is only the medals, awards and money, they never really think of the significance of sports so they cannot enjoy the process of the competitions and training.

According to Dr. Charles E. Yesalis, a professor health and human development at Penn St. University, "drug use among athletes has gone dramatically up in recent years. Athletes also are becoming more venturesome about mixing different types of drugs. One reason is that new drugs keep coming on the market, and some turn out to be of help in giving athletes a competitive edge. Sports officials feel they have no choice but to try to combat drug use in sports with every legitimate weapon at their command. They are motivated in part by concern for athletes' well being. Most performance-enhancing agents have side effects that can pose an immediate or long-range threat to health. But the officials are driven by self-interest too. If the public perceive major sports to be hopelessly drug-ridden, attendance and television viewership is likely to plummet. And thatcould lead to financial ruin for athletes and promoters alike. The monetary stakes are higher today than ever before. Many of the top athletes damned very high salaries, and a select few demand huge additional sums for product endorsement. Pro team owners, meanwhile, are constantly scrambling for more income from broadcasting and other sources to meet their massive payrolls and still turn a profit. A series of drug scandals might well cause media outlets and corporate sponsors