Doping in International Sports - Research Paper Example

DOPING IN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS INTRODUCTION One of the key things a child is taught in his early years of childhood is the basic morals of living an honest life. The enfant is brought up with a clear direction in mind that he will not cheat, dodge or mislead himself in an act that will not only harm his reputation but also the reputation of all the one’s linked with him. Once this knowledge is inculcated in a child’s mind, that child will always have some sort of hatred for a cheater. While growing up the younger one will always respect the rules and norms of the society and would do his utmost to prevent any such act by the people surrounding him as well. This frame of mind will always help the child in the academic department as well as in the sporting world. Everyone loves to compete, people love to see a healthy competition and the stakes of any such competition rises to another level when an athlete or sportsmen compete not only for their personal pride but also for the pride of their respective countries. Audiences love to see fierce, competitive but healthy battles on the field rather than off it. Whether it is the globally renowned event of Olympics or the world-cup of any sport, whether it’s the battle between the two giants in wanting to become the best on the road tracks or the rivalry in an India-Pakistan cricket match, people want to see competitiveness in a sportsman game of play. The audiences believe that a fair and equal chance must be given to every individual before making any views about that person. Unfortunately, for some men and women reaching the top of the ladder becomes so important that they are willing to sacrifice the dignity of their mother land and of course their personal respect. For them victory becomes such an enormous word that they just go an extra mile to comfort themselves and take the wrong side of the road to smell the fragrance of success and hence as a result indulge themselves in the menace of doping. Although the word doping literally means “the use of a drug or blood product to improve athletic performance” but, in spite of its infamous nature, its precise definition can be relatively hard to tell by. It’s just because it’s difficult to reflect what exactly comes under the heading of doping and what does not. Although a layman knows that the word doping is related to cheating and depending on unfair means to enhance body performance by using body enhancement drugs, but still a learnt person may argue about what kind of drugs involving performance enhancing substances come under the definition of doping? THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY The word doping has become an important part of the world of sports. It’s hard to understand the complexity that why has it grown so loud in the last couple of decades? Why that is an athlete prefers to go for a shortcut to reach his milestone? Why that is a sports man doesn’t feel the guilt of using banned substances to improve his performance? These are some of the questions that a society seeks answers for. Obviously when athletes dope, there is a strong motivation, courage and mental strength that carries an athlete to commit such a sinful crime in the world of doping. However, the elements that force an individual to use such substances are as complex as it gets. Some of the factors that may encourage a sportsman in this regard can be the awareness of the public regarding sports or the personal expectations that an athlete has with himself. Sports personnel’s know what the audiences require. They know exactly what they have come in numbers for. They know what the number one position or the victory stands mean to them. Just for the sake of showing off, an athlete can go as far as risking his life, his career and most importantly the name of the country he is representing. Somehow or the other doping effects the nature of sports and the competition. There is no meaning left to the stalk of runners if half of the field is caught using unfair means to be on the victory stand. Sports are a very important part of the modern society and doping attacks this aspect with full force to make the will of competitiveness go unheard. Millions of viewers watch sports for the sake of true competitiveness and sportsmen spirit, but when the true meaning of sports is lost, and then there is nothing that can change the scenario. Doping under rates the world of sports in two ways; First it helps and governs an athlete and provides him with an unfair advantage over other competitors by exceeding an individual’s natural performance levels and secondly when an individual is caught in this bizarre an unethical practice, then the performance of other competitors also comes under scrutiny and questions are raised upon them as well. (Alex Paul, 2003)If this scenario continues for a long time than the real charm of the competition will be lost and the final winner and loser will be decided in the laboratories. The researches would have to go deep in finding out sophisticated methods in order to enhance a person’s performance through scientific and technological needs. So if the winner is decided through this scenario, then the victor has won for the wrong reasons. On the other hand if some problematic points are taken out of this discussion then a person may argue about a scenario, where an athlete gets injured and in order to recover he struggles and does excessive exertion to gain his fitness, he takes medicines to overpower the pain sustained from the past injuries and still unfortunately gets caught. Such a case reflects to words like fairness and honesty of an athlete. Either the authorities would have to depend on the words spoken by the accused party itself or the doping authorities would have to draw a fine line stating the exact fitness of a person and this step surely will be very difficult. An athlete in order to be successful over his counter parts would try his maximum to gain any sort of advantage under the doping regulations but to define a certain limit of everything would be difficult and also a cause of concern for the authorities like WADA and IOC. A valid point that can be taken out of this argument is the path of access of technology for the athletes. Athletes from wealthier backgrounds or wealthier countries would have access to modern day technology that would help them in enhancing their performance without being unfair whereas the athletes from third world countries who do not have latest infrastructure to train might lack behind in their ways of exercise and practice. They might not be able to train as hard as their compatriots and that could lessen the morals considerably. If we take the other side of the picture than we can also say that sportsmen from richer countries might be tempted to use drugs that are still not in the list of WADA's doping code and are undetectable and that is why they are normally found on the podiums with the help of those drugs, where as athletes from average backgrounds might use those drugs that are detectable and hence aren’t able to perform to their fullest even after putting themselves into the doping conditions. Since this point is hard to argue upon as it takes us to an individual’s fairness or unfairness to his field of sport but still the IOC has stated some important points regarding to unfairness and issues that are related to health. INTERNATIONAL SPORTS GOVERNANCE The ever growing landscape of doping has led to some serious concerns by the doping related authorities. This has become a political question which has been raised by the people for which a scientific answer should be made available. The respective authorities should satisfy the people to make every sport clean from this jeopardy. The easiest way to stop this calamity from expanding in the world of sports is to explicitly name these substances that enhance a person’s ability to perform a certain task. This way not only the ones who prefer to take shortcuts would come under the direct supervision of the authorities but also the ones who work day and night with all their hearts to compete for the victory stands would get informed about such banned products. Prominent and prospective steps have been taken by the international Olympic commission and the blinks of this road to end doping can be seen in the Olympic movement doping code. The points that have been quoted and are related to the doping are that 1. “doping is the use of an expedient (substance or method) which is potentially harmful to athletes' health and capable of enhancing their performance, or 2. ‘Doping is the presence in the athletes’ body of a prohibited substance or evidence of the use thereof or evidence of the use of a prohibited method”. The wordings of the International Olympic Commissions Doping Code, certainly reflects the multi-dimensional thinking of the authorities to exclude and vanish this problem. Their intent is not only restricted in finding about the banned substances and catching those who use them but their vision also rotates around the health of an athlete. They have portrayed their plans around the betterment of sports and with the exclusion of all the band substances, the anti-doping authorities will not just be able to safeguard and protect the lives of the athletes, but they will also be able to stay in defense of medically related sports ethics and also of a widely accepted perception that every athlete should be given an equal chance to compete in a competition. (John M Hoberman, 2005) Whereas on the other hand the world Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) whose work circle functions around the scientific research of newly banned products, testing athletes for performance enhancing drugs, educating them and protecting the world Anti-Doping Code, defines the word doping in terms of the products that have been banned and put to a halt, not to be used by sports personnel’s. The definition of doping by WADA revolves around the words written in the IOC’s doping code but the only amendment that can be seen is the one related to the spirit of the game. (Paul David, 2008) According to them, the moment an athlete thinks of using an unfair mean to boost his personal performance, that very second his respect and the spirit of the sport he plays, gets buried in the ground for-ever. WADA's task to purify the sport largely revolves around the past experiences, the present scenarios and on the future predictions. In the past the number of sportsmen all around the world has taken the banned substances to magnify their performances. In the present day, almost on regular bases new drugs are appearing in the market for usage. The properties of the performance enhancing drugs and the ever growing list of such items has widen the horizon of the anti-doping authorities research and have put them in a fierce challenge to combat this menace from the sporting world. The responsibility and the work given to them are not that easy. They have to keep pace with their ever growing pharmaceutical industry. The biggest problem for them that lies is in the process of determining which substance keeps an athlete healthy and which provides an extra bit of performance enhancement. The work gets more complicated because there exists many substances that have the property of keeping an athlete healthy, while its extensive dosage enhances the performance. They have to carry out research in this manner as well in order to state the quantity of the substance that can be legally used. For this purpose WADA carries out extensive medical research and also works in collaboration with other research material linked to anti-doping all around the world. In order to understand the magnitude of this doping prospect, one really needs to know about the actual substances that are not allowed in International sporting events. Sportsmen might use a substance for the betterment of his health but that individual might not know that although that substance is beneficial for the body in certain circumstances but it is banned by the anti-doping authorities worldwide. So if an athlete uses such a substance, then that person might be charged of using drugs under the ICO’s Doping code. Therefore, for the betterment of the athletes and to educate the sporting organization all around the world the IOC and the WADA have circulated multiple copies of the banned substances that they have taken notice of. Some of the classes of substances that have distinctly been identified include stimulants, narcotics, anabolic agents, hormones, mimetic and analogues. In stimulants, there are multiple products that come under its heading but among the most prominent are amphetamines, cocaine and ephedrine which help an athlete to be aggressive in his approach and lesson his fatigue for an acceptable period of time. (Josiah Brown, 1962) The amphetamines work itself into a person’s body through the nervous system and then make its way to all parts of the body. A person’s adrenal glands produce epinephrine and those results in an increase of flow of blood, making the person concentrate and stay alert and focus on his job. A recent research has showed that the use of amphetamines do not largely increase the performance of a sportsman whether those sports require explosive exertion or are related to aggression, but still it is a substance that is prohibited in the sporting world and should not be used to gain any advantage. (Daniel M Rosen, 2008) Moreover, cocaine has the effects and properties that are linked to amphetamines. It enters into the person’s body through his brain and straight away makes alterations in a person’s reflexes, emotions and disturbs the memory area. It makes a person’s hand-eye coordination vivid and does harm to an athlete’s health as well. Any person who gets addicted to this substance generally suffers from cardiac arrest and if the dosage goes out of control, then that individual can become a psychological patient as well. (Jason Porterfield, 2008) Ephedrine is a product that is quite popular in the sporting world as it is used by many law offenders. In order to enhance their performance and to lessen their appetite, the substances present in the ephedrine resembles that of amphetamines in its effects to the human body and that include hallucination, psychosis and compulsive behavior. ( Ko Kuei Chen, 1930) In narcotics, the types of performance enhancers that are known are heroin and methadone. These substances have been used for ages by the drug adductors to seek advantage over others. They help in reducing fear, pain and anxiety and motivate the athletes to focus. Such sort of drug is quite familiar in the field of events linked to running races whether they are on foot or in water. Athletes take these drugs to overpower their injury and keep on running and keep participating just for the sake of some money. The biggest drawback that such a drug has is that once an individual gets addicted to it, then it is very hard for that person to come out of this problem. Coming towards anabolic steroids, such steroids are available since 1960’s and have caused a problem for the doping regulators till the present day. A steroid named as testosterone is very popular in this regard. It has the ability to make masculine characteristics and has a tissue building effect as well. Many researchers have tried to make such a steroid that has only one of the characteristics of testosterone but till now their work hasn’t been paid off. Steroids are one of the most popular and widely used drugs in the modern day. Through the use of this drug a person can enhance the tissue building process, an athlete can work extensively on his exercise, he can have his performance improved, his inner motivation can reach sky high and surely his enthusiasm for the game certainly multiplies. Studies show that taking these drugs in extensive amount can have a negative impact on a person's health but still many sports men take the risk of taking it and putting their lives in trouble. Further studies show that women have a greater impact of these steroids on their body as they are sensitive to such drugs. Some of the effects that these products can have on a woman include deepening of the voice, that is, the voice becomes heavier and growth of hair on face becomes visible. In general a human body can suffer from jaundice and can cause damage to its liver as well, whereas on the other hand, some of the psychological effects include aggressiveness and long spells of depression that could have very serious consequences on a person’s health and mind. Now coming on towards a couple of ways in which blood doping is done. Transfusion and rEPO generally known as EPO are the two popular ways of blood doping. In transfusion the blood is taken out of person’s body in order to increase the number of red blood cells. This in return increases the percentage of oxygen that an athlete can take benefit from. Such a technique is well known by runners at high altitudes. Whereas rEPO is a synthetic method linked to transfusion where the red blood cells get a boost in a person’s body in order to increase their performance but its flaw is that it can cause high blood pressures due to the high level of blood cells in a person’s body. This was a review of the practices that have been carried out by the International sports governing body and the substances that have been under some scrutiny. It shows the efforts of IOC and WADA in collaboration with all the sports boards all around the world to stop this menace of doping world-wide. THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT The President of the International Olympic Commission has been reported to have said that," substances that do not damage a sportsman’s' health should not be banned." Using banned substances in the globally renowned events of Olympics does no good to the world of sports, the athletes and to the public linked with it. The spectators are of the normal view that the drugs whether used for a legal purpose or used for the sake of unfair means does somehow increase a sportsman’s' natural ability. People dislike this impurity in the world of sports and want a completely wipe out this not so liked method from the existing sporting world. (Wayne Wilson, 2001) The recent Olympics that are been held have been runned under the slogan of "zero tolerance policy for doping cases" and that is why there has been a considerable decrease in the doping scandals from the 1980's and the 1990's where a series of athletes under the country name of Eastern Germany were caught using anabolic steroids and other banned substances. Unimaginably and unrealistically, majority of the athletes in there were women specially linked to the Eastern Germany's swimming team. It has been reported in a published document that the people to force those athletes to take those dosage of drugs were none other than their own trainers and coaches. Those female swimmers were on controlled drugs from their early ages and some started to undergo drugs in their teenage years as early as eleven years old. Once this document was in media, many authorities linked to the swimming team were tried in the courts and were found guilty of various sinful crimes in order to improve their countries medal tally in the 1976's Olympic Games. (Wayne Wilson, 2001) Another example that cannot be put under the shades is of the Chinese female swimming team of the 1990 era. In those years the Chinese woman swimming team was on the road to conquer the world of swimming in every event. In the top 25 ranked players almost 70% of the athletes were Chinese. That was an era of dominance by the Chinese girls. Their strong hold on the swimming world led to doubts by other nations. They were of the point that the swimmers had symptoms of using steroids banned by the IOC. The strong opposition led to the doping tests on those swimmers but somehow they were declared clean from any such acts by the President of International Olympic Commision himself. This was a major mistake that was made by the IOC as a short while after that a new test for dihydrotestosterone that was introduced in the 1994 Asian games led to the banning of 5 of the Chinese swimmers in those games and almost 10 were forced to end their careers due to the presence of the restricted products that were found in their bodies. (Joseph A Califano, 2000) The inability of the IOC in not able to catch those athletes led to a strong say by the worlds sporting organizations. This led ICO to amend its rules and to make sanctions stricter and harsher for the athletes of those countries whose sportsmen had been caught on and off because of this sinful act. Olympics has been an ongoing event for the past multiple decades. People wait for it to commence. Spectators dream to see their heroes compete in their respective events. Hence it is the duty of the athletes and the coaches that they should train with the purpose of competing in an honest and fair manner. In the above mentioned examples of the athletes of Eastern Germany and China, it can clearly be seen that how dominant doping can be when it comes to competing with the natural ability of a human being. Hence sportsmen should not take any substance to gain the spot as the use of any unfair mean to gain advantage would only make the sports dirty and will take their followers trust from them and from that sport. FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL SPORTS. WADA and all the other anti doping agencies have marked a new era to make the sports safe and free from any type of medical corruption. Their fear in the athletes minds have kept them away from the banned substances and have restricted their usage of those products to a great extent. This has been possible because WADA has been able to work independently without coming under the pressures of any one or without favoring the athletes or sports personnel's of any country. They have been able to establish their credibility and have succeeded in applying themselves to the world of sports to a large extent. The only problem for WADA to run successfully in the future is that in the administration there are both organizational and governmental representatives. This is a cause of concern for WADA because this could bring an outcry within the organization. They have to find a solution that satisfies not only the people within WADA but will also be reliable and trustworthy for the athletes to follow. Now, coming on towards some of the improvements and proposals that WADA can work on. As every athlete knows that till the current date WADA has the best system to seek solutions from, therefore it is almost mandatory for WADA to make possible amendments for the betterment of the future of the sports in the coming years on regular basis. One proposal that can be put into practice is that, that when any sportsman is caught or proven guilty of using unfair means to succeed in their respective sport, so as a replicating act, the anti doping agencies can request the world sports organization to take away medals, rewards or any other recognition that the athlete has won for standing on the podium with the help of an unfair mean. This act would certainly demolish an individual’s confidence and credibility in front of all the compatriots throughout the world. This act would set an example for the other people that if they are caught using drugs, then their life and career could be at stake. Another very important and effective implementation could be the preservation of blood samples by WADA. This act by the anti doping authorities would be very useful for the future, and for the substances that are still undetectable by WADA. In this way the athletes will not only have to worry from the existing workable structure but they will have it in their minds that they can be caught and charged of being the guilty party in the future as well. This process will not be that hard to implement but the only cause of concern or difficulty that could arise is the preservation of the blood samples. For this WADA will have to be very innovative in finding new methods of testing the substances that are still hidden from them. To add to the list another proposal could be to give most of the responsibilities and the power of decision making to the athletes themselves. This scenario will create a sense of trust, reliability and confidence by the doping agencies on the athletes and will create a sense of eliminating the cause of doping from the existing world. Such an option could only be effective if the athletes in charge will take the responsibility of running this whole setup with honesty. Taking the dark side of this proposal, the problem that could arise can be seen within the proposal and that could be the self interest of an athlete. This could create problems and might lead to some conflicts with the other sports personalities. This process is a very innovative way of reducing the people who dope, because once an athlete gets caught under these circumstances, and then the punishment could be even harsher than that given by the anti doping authorities. (Caroline Searle, 1996) A final strategy that could be put in by WADA can be the deployment of their medical experts and their teams around the world. The medical teams can be given directions on the information that they have to pass on to those countries sports organizations in relation to doping. They could plan out regular lectures for the officials so that effective, informative and up to date information could reach the athletes and they could avoid from breaching the code of conduct set up by WADA. As WADA has to be on their toes because of the emergence of newly found performance enhancing drugs in the world of medicine, therefore they should provide the athletes with the list of the banned substances and should help and encourage them to avoid using them.( (Carl Germano, 2011) One of the extreme solutions that would be hard to accept by the sporting world but still if necessary, if put into practice might give out positive results. That option is to make the athletes stay in specially designed and constructed areas where the anti doping authorities could have a constant look upon them. This option is hard to gain any significance because in this way athletes would become prisoners to the authorities and that may have a psychological or emotional effect on those set of individuals and on their respective sport. (Michael S Bahrke, 2002) Now focusing the attention on towards the prospective years of anti doping authorities. One can easily say that the future looks clean and bright. With years going by quickly and medical technology enhancing and widening its horizons day by day, WADA will certainly have to be up to date with technological matters, they would have to have abundant resources to differentiate between who is the guilty party and who has his hands clean. Adding to it, WADA surely needs to have the funds to execute their plans according to their will. (Rod Rees, 1998) Sports have always been very dear to the sporting world whether they are athletes, sports organizations, spectators or the media. Sports unite people and bring out the best out of them on the playing field. Athletes get paid millions of dollars for every success they conquer. They are the ones who are followed throughout the world by the media and their fans and followers. Media covers those events and the audiences help them in setting standards in their revenue generation. With so many positives, the question that why do athletes put themselves in an awkward position to reach the podium still remains to be unanswered. The people who dope, they have to be stopped. The world of doping does not a have a bright future ahead with strong determination of anti doping authorities like WADA. This menace has to come to halt and that day isn't far when everyone will repeat the words of Dr. Nikolai Durmanov that the world of sports has no connection to doping. This day will come and it will come soon. (Jason Porterfield, 2008) REFERENCES Wayne Wilson, Ph. D.; Ed Derse, Doping in elite sport: the politics of drugs in the Olympic movement, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2001. John M Hoberman, Testosterone dreams: rejuvenation, aphrodisia, doping, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Jason Porterfield, Doping: athletes and drugs, New York: Rosen Pub., 2008. Carl Germano, Misled athlete: effective nutritional and training strategies without the need for steroids, stimulants and banned substances, Bloomington, IN: universe, 2011. Wayne Wilson, Ph. D.; Ed Derse, Doping in elite sport: the politics of drugs in the Olympic movement, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2001. Daniel M Rosen, Dope: a history of performance enhancement in sports from the nineteenth century to today, Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2008. Joseph A Califano, Winning at any cost: Doping in Olympic sports, New York, NY: CASA Commission, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2000. Rod Rees, on the juice: can the Olympics be drug free, Bendigo, Vic.: Video Education Australasia, 1998. Paul David, A guide to the World Anti-Doping Code: a fight for the spirit of sport, Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Alex Paul, World Anti-Doping Agency, The prohibited list: the world Anti-doping code; international standard, Montreal, Que. WADA, 2003. Caroline Searle; Bryn Vaile, The IOC official Olympic companion, 1996, London; Washington: Published under license from the International Olympic Committee by Brassey’s Sports, 1996. Josiah Brown; Carl Maxwell Pearson, Clinical uses of adrenal steroids, McGraw - Hill, 1962. Ko Kuei Chen; Carl Frederic Schmidt, Ephedrine and related substances, Baltimore, The Williams & Wilkins Company, 1930. Michael S Bahrke; Charles Yesalis, Performance-enhancing substances in sport and exercise, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2002. Jason Porterfield, Doping: athletes and drugs, New York: Rosen Pub, 2008. Read More