Abstract
The report is devoted to the problem of the use of drugs in sports and the discussion of arguments underlying the problem. It was found that drugs can make serious damage to the sportsmen health and even lead to the lethal outcomes. In addition, the use of drugs in sport is the ethical issue. Certain drug testing procedures exist to promote the equality of the sports competitions. The data of the International Sport Committee analyzed in the report shows the increasing number of positive tests. In the final part of the report, the recommendations on the prevention of doping are suggested.
Introduction
The issue of drug use in sports has been on the agenda of the international sports organizations for a long time. The issue itself does not have only ethical and moral background but it is in essence the question of people health and life.
Along with the wide discussions about the use of performance-enhancing drugs and the principle of equality in sports, it is crucial to take a look at the actual facts and understand the reasons and consequences of the problem.
The aim of this report is to summarize the opinions on the use of drugs in sports and to make the recommendations on the issue.
In the first part of the main body of the report, the ideas on usage of performance-enhancing drugs and the effectiveness of drug testing are presented.
The second part of the report deals with the analysis of the statistics on drug testing in sports. The graph on the Olympic drug testing presented by the International Sports Committee has been analyzed (Olympic drug testing n.d.). The data shows the increasing trend in positive tests.
The results of the report allow us to state that the use of drugs in sport is the serious social and medical problem, which threats the life of sportsmen. It is recommended to promote the idea that the main goal of any kind of sports is to make people healthier and to show the strength and capabilities of human body, but not the ‘miracles’ of human ingenuity and adroitness. In addition, the coordination bodies should be organized at the level of sport classes at schools, colleges and universities.
The Past Experience and the History of Drugs Usage in Sports
The review of the history of sport provides us with an example of one of the first doping cases in sports, namely, the abuse of the famous American athlete, Mary Slaney, in taking drugs with the intention to be selected for the 1990 Olympic Games team (Putnam 1999, p.116). Putnam (1999, p.116) mentions that “like many before her, she stood for a long moment in the public eye accused of being, in simplest terms, a cheater — an athlete who violated the rules of her sport to gain an advantage over her opponents.”
Unfortunately, there are plenty of such examples. Beck & Bosshart (2003, n.pag.) also mention such famous cases of drug performance enhancement as the use of doping medicines by Ben Jonson in 1988, Diego Maradonna in 1994,and other famous sportsmen.
The Background of the Problem
The main argument supporting the drug use in sports is that the drugs are medicines, improving the organism ability to mobilize its potential.
“Involvement in sports is often felt to promote positive social behaviors and to produce “super people” who are models — in physique, in health, and in character — for the rest of the world” (Stuck 1990, p.17)
The controversy can be mitigated by the fact that it is ethically unfair and healthy dangerous.
Fogel ( 2012, p.12-16) describes in his work the effect of steroids on the human body, mentioning that they really increase the organism potential, strengthen the muscles and mobilize the energy but he also claims that the effects they make on the organism and the results they help to achieve do not worthy risking human health.
However, very often the underlying reason for drugs adoption is far from the health and sports problems and it is derived from the political motives.
“Given the Cold War impetus for the United States to keep pace with its Communist rivals in the Olympic medals race, a few American athletes very likely joined in the use of ergogenic substances earlier than 1958” (Hunt 2010, p.9)
Procedures in Place
Extensive drug testing was implemented at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles (Wong 1994, p.710). In spite of the fact that from that time the significant breakthrough has been achieved in this sphere, the doping control procedures and technologies require ongoing development. It is necessary to give the definition of doping. The Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code defines it as “the use of an artifice, whether substance or method, potentially dangerous to athletes’ health and/or capable of enhancing their performances, or the presence in the athlete’s body of a substance, or the ascertainment of the use of a method on the list annexed to the Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code” (Pound 2000, n.pag.)
Coombs & West (1991, p.195) state that the procedures of the doping control and monitoring should be based on up-to-date drug testing which is only effective when it detects the real drug usage cases in the majority of trials.
Johnston, Michaud & Warner (2009, n.pag.) state that although today we have an international standards for drug testing, they are not always effective and require additional research and development.
The Statistic behind the Problem
As the data shows, there is an evidence of the increasing trend in the number of positive tests in the Olympic Drug Testing started from 1968 Mexico City Games to 2004 Games in Athens (Opympic Drug Testing, n.d.). In particular, the percentage of positive tests was 1.4% in 1968 and 8% in 2004.
Conclusion
The doping in sports is the negative social phenomenon. The drug testing procedures are in place to detect the cases but they are not always effective and require substantial investment and improvement. However, the data shown proves that there is evidence of the increase in the number of positive tests, which goes beyond the frameworks of statistical discrepancy and the probability of misleading result.
Recommendations
- Promote the idea that the sport is aimed at the development of the strength of human body and not at the proving of the human ingenuity and adroitness.
- Combine the efforts of the government commissions and amateur sport unions to organize coordination committees at the level of schools, colleges and universities with the aim of drugs control and promotion of the idea of healthy sport among young people.
References
Beck, D & Bosshart, L 2003, ‘Sports, drugs, and violence’, Communication Research Trends, vol. 22. no. 4, n.pag.
Coombs, R.H. & West, L. J. 1991, Drug testing: issues and options, Oxford University Press, New York.
Fogel, C 2012, ‘Steroid use, football, and catastrophic injuries: the paradox of performance-enhancing drug use ’, Studies in Sociology of Science, vol. 3. no. 1, p.12-16.
Hunt, T.M. 2010, Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee and the politics of doping, 1960-2008, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.
Johnston, R.G, Michaud, E.C & Warner, J.S 2009, ‘Research note: the security of urine drug testing’ , Journal of Drug Issues, vol. 39. no. 4, p.1015-1028.
Opympic drug testing, n.d. Web.
Pound, R 2000, ‘Performance-enhancing drugs in sport: response by the international sports community ’ , International Journal, vol. 55. no. 3, n.pag.
Putnam, D.T. 1999, Controversies of the sports world, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.
Stuck, M.F. 1990, Adolescent worlds: drug use and athletic activity, Praeger Publishers, New York.
Wong, G.M. 1994, Essentials of amateur sports law, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT.