Performance Enhancement Drugs in Sport

Was it really worth it? Michael Phelps, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong. These are some of the most successful and decorated athletes in the history of sport who have all been caught using performance enhancing drugs (doping) in their careers. They have cheated their way by cutting corners to success. I personally don’t really see the point in using performance enhancing drugs for a professional athlete who has endured a career of physical and mental training, to reach that point where they can put all those years of determination and hard work to good use just to be squandered. Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour De France seven times between 1999 and 2005, was stripped of all of his seven titles because of doping and was permanently banned from the Tour De France in 2012. So, again, was it really worth it? Years of hard work and training, losing seven Tour De France titles because of using a performance enhancing drug. Most importantly losing your reputation and going down as one of the most famous dopers in sporting history . I hope it was really worth it, using drugs to enhance you performance, Lance Armstrong.

One main reason why I am completely against performance enhancement in sports is because of the impact it can have on your mental state; doping seriously affects your health by increasing the chances of heart failure, strokes, kidney damage and high blood pressure. Secondly, medications are for people with serious health problems – not for fully fit and healthy athletes. Thirdly, doping or enhancing your sports performance is cheating; which is tantamount to being dishonest to yourself and others. I would label these so called athletes selfish and self-centred people because there are real and hard working athletes, who have to strive to be the best, climb and claw their way to the top, while these so called athletes take enhancement drugs to win to just please their own personal needs.

There are a number of reasons why athletes do this: they don’t believe in themselves, they cannot win without cheating, peer pressure, to be seen as a hero for their country and finally to get sponsorships and money. These so called athletes like Michael Phelps, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong and many more should have their successes erased from sports history. This will definitely send a message to all the drug taking athletes to stop cutting corners to success, and to work and train hard like the rest of the clean, honest athletes.

Ultimately they’re ruining the sport for those who love it. What type of human being takes drugs that can seriously affect their body by putting their health at risk just to be successful in a sport? Using drugs ruins the competition for the authentic hard working athletes who are clean from the use of drugs, and who play by the rules and regulations of the sport.

Anabolic steroids, what are they? Anabolic steroids  are drugs that increase muscle mass and strength. It seems appealing to take them but what about if I tell you the side effects on your mental state? Taking performance enhancing drugs can seriously affect your mental state by making you more aggressive, meaning you will be prone to more acts of violence and rage. An example of this would be Canadian track and field athlete Ben Johnson, when attending court for taking performance enhancing drugs he appeared aggresive, strongly denying that he did not take stanozolo drugs. He tested positive the next day after the olympics in Seoul 1988. After the events Ben Johnson was convicted of doping and later stripped from his medals and banned for life. When he won the gold medal he was seen as an icon in Canada, but now his name has been tarnished and forgotten, he has disgraced Canada.

Another reason to avoid taking Anabolic steroids is the different effects it has on men and woman. Men will develop baldness,  their testicles will shrink and their pectiorals will enlarge. Women may also develop baldness, a deeper voice , increased body hair , infrequent periods or absent periods. Both men and women might experience severe acne, become very drug dependent , and contract Infections or diseases such as HIV or hepatitis if they’re injecting the enhancement drugs in their body.

In conclusion, I believe taking performance enhancing drugs can drastically affect the future generation of any and every sport. It can potentially influence young athletes to be inspired by this dishonest, selfish and greedy behaviour and ultimately ruining such a prestigous sport that is track and field.