An ever-growing array of drugs with actual or claimed performance-enhancing advantages threatens the sport’s credibility. Performance-enhancing medications come with serious potential health concerns, in addition to the injustice of giving dishonest athletes an unfair advantage (Dimeo & Møller, 2018). Over the past decades, blood doping has evolved into one of the most prevalent forms of doping in endurance sports. Blood doping is commonly used because it is accessible to athletes, works well to improve performance, and is hard to detect. This doping method has severe repercussions on athletes’ health and should be banned.
Most sporting organizations such as WADA see doping as prohibited. In my opinion, it is the right stance where no concessions can be made. Hemoglobin levels in the blood are frequently raised through blood doping (Saladin, 2021). Particularly in long-distance sports, it can enhance performance and endurance. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List forbids the injection of erythropoietin, the injection of synthetic compounds that may carry oxygen, and blood transfusions, which are the most often utilized types of blood doping (Dimeo & Møller, 2018). Any growth in red blood cell count can increase the quantity of oxygen that the blood can carry to the body’s muscles since red blood cells carry oxygen through a person’s blood (Saladin, 2021). More endurance will therefore be the eventual outcome.
Whether WADA should loosen its regulations or make them stricter is still debatable. The majority of spectators and authorities place more importance on fairness than on the health of blood-doping athletes (Dimeo & Møller, 2018). Blood doping may have harmful impacts on health, but it is hardly detectable, which makes it difficult to make well-informed choices. WADA regulations have led to a booming black market and the falsification of anti-doping tests (Dimeo & Møller, 2018). Under these circumstances, the issue is one of social and philosophical concern as well as one of the health consequences. Sport, by its very essence, is not about equality but about recognizing those who succeed while breaking records and pushing the boundaries of human possibility (Dimeo & Møller, 2018). A committed athlete will go above and beyond the call of duty to triumph in a competition. On the other side, laws against blood doping make an effort to promote equality while also lowering the danger of negative health effects.
Patients who have had significant blood loss during major surgery or as a result of serious trauma are the most common recipients of blood transfusions and synthetic oxygen carriers. For a normal body, blood doping entails more than just winning medals. Serious health effects might also result. The main issue with blood doping is that it increases the volume of blood, makes it thicker, makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood throughout the body, and increases the risk of stroke (Saladin, 2021). This is the key evidence why blood doping should be illegal. Blood doping in sports is linked to major health issues, the most prevalent and most dangerous of which are cardiovascular-related. Blood doping is a prohibited drug that athletes utilize most frequently. Although there are numerous clinical findings and even more case reports, the majority of systematic investigations on the effects of these drugs on the heart and blood arteries have been experimental (Dimeo & Møller, 2018). The myocardium is directly intoxicated by blood doping (Saladin, 2021). Acute or chronic complications have the potential to cause major health issues.
References
Dimeo, P., & Møller, V. (2018). The anti-doping crisis in sport: Causes, consequences, solutions. Routledge.
Saladin, K. (2021). Anatomy & Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function. McGraw Hill.