Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Drugs and sports [...] performance-Enhancing drugs, and their effect on athletes and the sports they play.
Athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs compromise the integrity of their sports for a number of reasons. First, there is the issue of the records they set. For example, Barry Bonds has set numerous home run records, including hitting more than Hank Aaron. However, now these records are suspect, because of his use of these drugs. He might not have set these records without the help of the drugs. In addition, baseball is doing very little, if anything, to punish the players who are using drugs, so there is little incentive for them to stop. It makes the players look bad, it makes the sport look bad, and it makes the entire sport suspect, because fans can no longer trust that their favorite players are not enhancing their performance not with hard work and dedication, but with drugs.
The use of performance enhancing drugs also sends a terrible message to children who are fans, and children who play sports. They see their idols hitting home runs and making more baskets, and so, they get the underlying message that these drugs help athletes play better. They may be influenced enough to take the drugs themselves. They may also get the idea that it is OK to take these drugs, because the major leagues are not reprimanding or punishing the athletes who use these drugs. It sends a message to kids that this behavior is not only OK, it is rewarded with million dollar contracts, and that is the totally wrong message to send to children.
Finally, use of these drugs can be damaging to the health. The athletes who have taken these drugs do not know what affects they may have on their future health, and some athletes may pay later on with a variety of illnesses. These performance-enhancing drugs can be dangerous, and they could kill athletes later on. They are gambling with their future health, and it is not a good gamble.
Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports For most professional athletes, winning is everything. In fact, most professional athletes find the drive to win insatiable. Further, apart from the satisfaction that comes with personal accomplishment, most of those in professional sports are usually under significant pressure to win medals for their countries. It is under such circumstances that professional athletes contend with a fierce desire to use performance-enhancing drugs. However, the use of such
Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports To compete and excel is part of human nature. In sporting activities, it has always driven young athletes to perform feats of ever-higher levels of strength, endurance, and speed. Most have achieved glory through relentless effort, physical training, and an iron will to be the best. Unfortunately, the pressure to be the best has also driven some to seek shortcuts to success, mainly through the use
Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Sports In the year 1967, a Dr. Gabe Mirkin asked 100 athletes the following: "If I could give you a pill that would make you an Olympic champion -- and also kill you in a year -- would you take it?" (Freudenrich 1). Of the 100 people questioned more than half responded that they would indeed take the pill if given the opportunity despite the risks involved. The
Anabolic Steroid and Performance Enhancing Drug Use Among High School Athletes Anabolic steroid use has, at least in the past, been prevalent among major college and, especially, professional sports. Major League Baseball implemented a drug testing regimen very recently after backlash from fans made it an issue that the sport believed it had to listen to. The National Football League has a testing program that has been in place since 1989,
Lyle Alzado, who played with the Cleveland Browns and the L.A. Raiders as well as with the Denver Broncos, died in 1992 because the chemicals in steroids caused him to develop brain cancer. Prior to his death, Alzado stated, "I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I'm sick, and I'm scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the
The approach of the program is that intellectual knowledge is power, and knowledge can circumvent the influence of drugs, although there is little evidence that knowing drugs are bad and drug avoidance is correlated. After all, many people continue to smoke long after they know that cigarettes are hazardous to their health. Children may use drugs for emotional reasons that cannot be penetrated by logic, like low self-esteem and few