Colette Marciano
Mr. Barry
AP World History
12 June 2017
Doping in Professional Athletics
The issue of doping is plaguing the professional sports world and creates an international debate about it’s legality and bodily effects. Doping is defined as the illegal use and abuse of a substance like anabolic steroids or any technique to enhance an athlete’s ability to perform in a game or event. Steroid use creates a physical advantage for athletes which takes away from the notion of equality in sports. There are many opinions as to whether or not steroid usage should be permitted in high level athletics. Many argue that usage can enhance the ability of athletes and therefore sports will become more competitive. However, others back the statement that a game should be about the abilities an athlete has worked to gain, not gained synthetically. Steroids have positive and negative effects on the human body as well, which plays into the debate. Although they can make one physically stronger and enhance endurance, they can causes diseases in your organs and tissues, which can ultimately lead to death. Many famous athletes have used steroids and have reaped the benefits or faced the consequences, both on their bodies and their eligibility to play. There are three main categories of performance enhancing drugs and although these substances can help the body perform at a higher level, the consequences that follow can negatively affect one’s health, body function, and eligibility to compete as seen in many athletes who partake in both United States and international competitions.
In order to understand the effects steroids have on one’s body and competitions, it is necessary to understand the three main categories of doping and what each type does to athletic performance. The first type is anabolic steroids which are “synthetic variations of the male sex hormone testosterone” according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. The traditional name for this category of substances is anabolic-androgenic steroids where the first half labels the muscle building aid the drug provides while the latter half refers to the increased male sex compounds. The increased imitation of testosterone is what prompts the accelerated bodily change as testosterone is responsible for the ability of the body to make changes during puberty. The effects of the androgenic part of the drug include but are not limited to “accelerated growth of muscle, bone, and red blood cells, and enhanced neural conduction” (Fahey). Athletes take anabolic steroids build muscle mass which allows them to train and recover quickly. The next type is stimulating steroids, or stimulants. Stimulants are designed to accelerate everything happening in the body to allow for increased “alertness, attention, and energy, as well as the elevation of blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration” (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Stimulants affect the nervous system and drastically increase one’s ability to focus and be alert, leading to why many athletes take stimulating substances. The last category of doping is using human growth hormones. Human Growth Hormone is very important hormone created in the body that affects our internal organs and skeletal structure. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “HGH has been shown to significantly increase the size and number of cells in skeletal muscle.” Therefore, accelerated muscle building is what draws professional athletes to an HGH substance. More muscle leads to increased strength and endurance so an athlete can compete at the highest levels of play for long periods of time without fatigue. Athletes are attracted to doping because of the effects named as they can significantly improve performance and give them an edge over the competition.
On the contrary, the positive effects of usage for athletes is overridden by the large amount of long term consequences that athletes can suffer from usage. Doping can affect the cardiovascular system, and it has been shown that steroid abuse “has been associated with cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks and strokes, even in athletes younger than 30” (National Institute on Drug Abuse). The use of steroids can enhance performance for an athlete but can actually shorten the amount of time one is able to perform in their career. Usage can also result in atherosclerosis which is a condition that can lead to the stoppage of blood flow due to fatty particles attaching to the walls of arteries leading to the heart and brain. When blood cannot reach the brain, a stroke can result, and when blood cannot read the heart, it causes a heart attack. Steroid usage can affect the brain in irreversible ways as it can affect the neural chemicals called the neurotransmitters. The lack of production and function of the neurotransmitters can “lead to changes in mood and behavior in a person… including anger and aggression, paranoia, and delusions” (“The Effects of Steroid Use”). Arthritis is another side effect/result of steroid usage, Barry Bonds is said to have developed arthritis from his consistent use. The long term effects of steroid usage are very serious which is why there are regulations put into place by professional sports leagues to prevent health risks and to ensure the integrity and fairness of the game.
Steroid usage is very common in professional sports as everyone wants to have a physical or mental advantage over their opponent. In the United States, leagues like the NBA, MLB, and the NFL have regular screenings to make sure that there is an even playing field and the athletes are not gaining an illegal edge. If an athlete is caught by testing positive for steroids in their system, often a harsh punishment is inflicted like a suspension or the revoking of a title. One of the most famous players known for his usage is Barry Bonds. He holds the record for most homeruns in one season, 73, but many see this statistic as questionable due to his testing status. Tyson Gay, another superstar athlete won an Olympic medal and was subsequently tested, leading to his titles and medals disappearing as well. Lance Armstrong had created a name for himself in cycling and he had tremendous success as he won 7 Tour de France competitions in a row from the years 1999 to 2005. He tested positive and his medal and pride was revoked. Athletes in their prime are being dethroned of their superstar status and receiving punishments for their actions. Nowadays, US professional athletic leagues are cracking down on testing protocol. Baseball is infamous for the amount of players caught doping in the league. Currently, the MLB rules state that “all players are subject to random blood and urine testing during the season…there is no limit to the amount of random drug testing during the season” (“Doping in the United States”). The punishments are of different severity depending on the number of offenses an athlete has. For an athlete’s first offense, an 80 game suspension is inflicted, while if it is the second offense, there is an 162 game and pay suspension. If an athlete has been caught 3 times doping to improve performance, they are banned from playing in the MLB for good. These punishments are not severe enough to stop steroid usage altogether, athletes won’t take the risk of using if they know they will not be able to play professional sports if they are caught only once. In baseball, the rules are three strikes and you are out, but in the game of steroid usage, it needs to be one and done. In international competition, doping is a major issue and is extremely frowned upon. Olympic athletes are tested if they win a medal, and it will be revoked if the test comes up positive. One of the biggest scandals was during the Rio Olympic games as around one third of Russia’s team was banned from competition due to performance enhancing drug use. After a period of retesting the urine of all the athletes who competed in Beijing and London, even more athletes were found to be using illegal substances and their medals were given to the deserving candidates. The New York Times states that this retesting “resulted in a top-to-bottom rewriting of Olympics history” and an executive member of the International Olympic Committee was in awe, saying that the Olympics “lost credibility… which is a major concern for the international competition.”