Why Steroid Should Not Be Allowed in Athletics - Term Paper Example

 INTRODUCTION Steroid, sports and athletes are the three words which makes up some of the world’s renowned sports scandals. In 2011, Summer Olympics, 11 athletes were barred after they tested positive in drug testing. This means that the athletes had illegally used performance enhancing drugs. Steroids are the most commonly used performance enhancers. Steroids are synthetic hormones that alter the process of protein assimilation in the body. The body’s ability to retain proteins increases and there is a surge of growth in muscles thereby allowing the user to build muscles and stamina much faster than what can be achieved by traditional workouts and diets. This increase in stamina and muscle power gives these drug-using athletes an edge over others. Most athletes start using steroids because they fall prey to the thought of gaining power and stamina more easily than others. Owing to the exploitation of these drugs, sports associations have banned the usage of performance enhancing drugs believing that sporting spirit should be pure and should not be shrouded by anything that is unfair. Sports have been a very important part of our lives. Almost all of us have loved sports in at least one form or the other. It is a platform where individuals can show off their hard work, skills and tactics and gain appreciation for them. However, the sudden growth of athletes involved in doping has disheartened sports aficionados who believe that the involved athletes are not only inflicting intentional harm on their own body but are also affecting the overall spirit of sports and participation. Athletes overlook the fact that these performance enhancers harm the body adversely. They are overcome by the winning spirit only and pay no respect to the sporting spirit. They are well aware that at the professional level, most tests cannot detect the presence of these drugs in the blood stream which is why many of the athletes abuse the drugs knowing that they may not get caught. THE PHYSICAL PROBLEMS The most noticeable and potentially harmful negative impacts of using drugs like anabolic steroids are those concerning health issues. These dangerous drugs not only enhance performance but also have the capability to physically alter a person. At times, these physical changes are permanent. Athletes who are too engrossed in winning may abuse anabolic steroid in order to gain short term edge over others. In this process, they tend to ignore the possible negative outcomes of steroid usage. Using steroids is like injecting testosterone into the body which helps increase the lean body mass of the athlete. One of the organs most affected is the liver which is prime excretory organ of toxic substances. The most serious hepatic problem associated with steroid abuse is peliosis hepatis which is the formation of blood filled cysts in the hepatocytes which maybe fatal if the cysts burst. Tumors in the liver are another possible effect of steroid usage. Besides liver the anabolic steroids also harms the cardiovascular system, paving way for enhanced probability of cardiovascular diseases. A former professional payer Steve Courson had said that the time he used steroids, his performance was at its peak. He ate a lot, gained muscles and his physical endurance skyrocketed, but he developed cardiovascular problems and had to get a heart transplant at a young age of 33 years (Fogel, 2012). The drug also affects both the male and female reproductive systems adversely leading to infertility. In males it may lead to shrinkage of the testis and lower production sperm while in female there may be permanent damage to egg and initiation of irregular menstrual cycle. There is also the enhanced risk of injury because as the muscles grow, the entire body may not be able to cope up with the sudden change, thereby giving way to sprains and ligament or tendon tears etc. Other possible effects include loss of hair, severe acne, hirsutism etc. Thus, if steroids were allowed in sports, the sportsperson would abuse them without considering the later effects on their individual health. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS Besides physical problems, usage of anabolic steroids alters the mind state of a person too. The increased levels of plasma testosterone influences mood alteration and initiate aggressive behavior. Psychologists believe that these particular drugs acts as stimulants of the central nervous system, making the user more aggressive and competition oriented. In fact, continuous use of drugs changes the true identity of the person and alters their mindset, pushing them towards feelings of severe competition and a must-win attitude. THREAT TO OTHERS Players and athletes who use steroids are bound to be faster, stronger, bigger and more aggressive than others who do not indulge in it. On field, these drug abusing players are a threat to the “weaker” players. Sometimes, the aggressive behavior or attitude of the players may give way to violence on the field which puts the non-steroid users at a weaker position. This makes them vulnerable to injuries on field. UNFAIRNESS “If the rules ban performance-enhancing drugs, then using those drugs to gain an advantage over athletes who refuse to cheat is unfair” (Murray & Thomas, 2010). When we discuss that drug usage changes a person or an athlete and makes them stronger compared to others in the sports, we are not expecting each and every single participant to be exactly the same. No two athletes can be exactly the same. Every single player is different and has their own different set of skills for their sport. Some players may be stronger or faster than others naturally but this is not a problem but is in fact a skill for which the player should be appreciated because they have worked hard naturally to attain the skill. However, when steroids come into play, the strength and the stamina is not to be attributed to the player but is in fact the effect of the drug. The sports where these drugs can be of immense importance are track event for endurance and stamina and weightlifting which is solely based on strength alone. Thus, it is absolutely unfair to make natural athletes and drug abusing athletes compete head-to-head in any sports. Some people think that if steroids were allowed in sports, legalized and made available to every single athlete then the problem or the difference between athletes would not exist at all. But, this is an ethical issue because in that case, athletes who personally do not want to use drugs would also be compelled to do so just to stay in the game and the entire situation would become amiable to drug-users alone. Another, problem with allowing universal use of drugs in sports is that it would alter the whole spirit of sports itself. It would be a competition to test humans alone but would become a race of chemicals too. The concentration would then not be on skills of the player at all but on better drugs and the athletes would just become mere puppets under drug influence. This would gradually decrease the dedication that an athlete has towards training for a sport. Thus the entire reason of organizing sporting events would be lost to “real-life video-game.” INFLUENCE ON YOUNGSTERS If steroid use was allowed in sports, it would slowly influence college and high school children to indulge in them. We would be sending them a wrong message about the true sports spirit. Since children are easily influenced they would start using these performance enhancers at a young age to make a mark in their extracurricular sport activities. Even if these drugs were allowed only at the professional level, it would somehow find its way into the locker rooms of young college and school kids. The youth would be under the impression that usage of drugs is the only way to success and fame. Presently several college goers use steroids to before getting into national level. If they start using dopes at such a young age it is obvious they would be inflicting irreversible damage on themselves. Therefore, it is evident that allowing steroids and growth hormone sin sporting events cannot be allowed at any cost. DISCUSSION For some athletes winning is all that is important. The medal, fame, recognition and the money involved is far superior to anything that has to do with their health. In spite of being fully aware of the physical problems that drug usage may have on their body, they decide to take a risk But what they fail to understand is that fame and recognition is infectious and the want to achieve then never fades and in order to maintain fame, they would have to depend on the steroid for the rest of their career. Thus, we see that drug usage is a serious problem and needs to be stopped from the very roots. It should not be allowed in form or at any levels of sports. Testing for doping should be made stricter especially at the junior levels. CONCLUSION Anabolic steroids may have some performance enhancing effects on the body but that is short lived and the risks involved are too great. It is absolutely necessary to ban all forms of performance enhancers from the sporting circuit in order to protect the athletes as well as keep alive the true spirit of sporting. REFERENCE Fogel, C. (2012). Steroid Use, Football, and Catastrophic Injuries: The Paradox of Performance- Enhancing Drug Use. Studies in Sociology of Science, 3(1), 12-16. Murray, & Thomas (2010). Making Sense of Fairness in Sports. The Hastings Center Report,,40(2). Todd, T. (1987). Anabolic Steroids: The Gremlins of Sport. Journal of Sport History, 14(1), 87-107. Read More