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Tate Silcox

Gardner

Milky Jalopeñeos

1 November 2019

Doping in Sports

Doping is the act of taking drugs to enhance performance as an athlete. Doping has been

a problem in sports from the beginning. There will always be someone looking for a way to cheat

and get ahead. In an anonymous survey, 44% of athletes admitted to doping, however, only

about 2% tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs (The Economist). Some of the most

famous instances of doping are Lance Armstrong and the entire Rusian Olympic team in 2016.

Lance Armstrong is one of the most successful cyclists in the world. “He [Lance

Armstrong] won again, again, again — an unprecedented seven Tour [de France] wins, all in a

row. He became a hero, then a legend.”(John) Lance brought people to a sport that was

unpopular before. He made millions from wins, sponsors, and advertisements. However, it was

later found out that Lance was on erythropoietin (EPO), a naturally occurring hormone that was

thought to boost performance. At the time, this drug was untraceable. There was no test to see if

athletes were taking it. When the cycling community found out that he had doped, they stripped

him of his seven Tour wins. He lost his sponsors and was sued for millions.

A more recent episode of people doping was the Rusian Olympic team. It was uncovered

that the Russian government had been giving their athletes performance-enhancing drugs. When

the International Olympic Committee (IOC) found out that they had been doping they suspended

the whole team but gave athletes the opportunity to appeal and then compete. This was a very
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controversial decision as World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) thought that no Russian athlete

should be allowed to compete. If doping is so hard to catch and so many athletes do it, should

doping be legal and regulated or should regulatory agencies increase efforts to stop doping from

happening?

Some people argue that doping should be legal. They believe professional sports would

be more entertaining if athletes were faster, stronger, and had more endurance. However, others

believe that doping would hurt sports because it would make athletes less human. People would

no longer see professional athletes as freaks of nature and the insane competitors that they are

and instead see them as an effect of doping. This is what happened to Lance Armstrong. People

trusted Lance. They believed him when he told them he wasn’t doping. He went as far as to sue

his accusers. People really hate him for lying to everyone about doping. He related the following

story:

And I walk out I’m getting in my Uber and there’s one guy goes, “Hey Lance,” and I

fully expected him to go, “What’s up, dude?” and you know, “Right on man, love you,”

you know? And I go “Hey what’s up?” He goes “F— you. F— you! F— you!” and he

wouldn’t stop. And the next thing you know, the entire patio is screaming “F— you, f—

you, f—.” I’ve never had that happen. I was like, “Oh.” I was shaking. (John)

This happened in the summer of 2017, five years after he admitted to doping. People thought he

was a hero but quickly became an enemy.

There are also people who believe there are health concerns with doping, and the rules

are in place not only keep the playing field level but keep the athletes safe. A lot of these drugs

are hard to get, and athletes don't know what is actually in them. No one knows if they are super
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addictive or if they have negative side effects that might affect someone later in life. This

sentiment is captured in the following cartoon. (See Figure 1)

(See Fig. 1) Gerberg, Mort. "I can't decide whether to turn pro first or go directly into rehab."

New Yorker​, 2 Nov. 1999,

In this cartoon, two college players talk about going pro. The one believes that to go pro, one has

to take drugs, which would lead to rehab. He is joking that maybe he should skip the pro part and

go straight to rehab. This depicts the fear some people have that doping isn't just bad for

competition, but it’s bad for the athletes as well.

One of the big arguments in support of doping is that athletes should have the same rights

as everyday citizens. “To be required to ‘prove’ that one is not using drugs violates the basic

legal right of the assumption of innocence until proven guilty, as well as constitutional
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guarantees against unreasonable search and self- incrimination” (Jacobs WE). This is a

constitutional right that every citizen of the United States is entitled to. This is not the case for

athletes. In the article, “Athletes Have The Same Rights as All Other Citizens,” the drug tests

that athletes are forced to take are compared to the drug test that felons who gave up their rights

are forced to take. Athletes can be forced to randomly take a drug test and be searched without

cause. “There is a distinction between trying to prevent the use of steroids by athletes and a

widespread program of mandatory drug testing of . . . athletes. The latter clearly crosses the line

of police-like action without reasonable suspicion, precisely the sort of abuse that the Fourth

Amendment protects” (Jacobs WE). The fourth amendment protects citizens against

unreasonable search and seizure. This breaks the fourth amendment because WADA or whoever

else is trying to stop doping doesn't need a warrant or probable cause to search their stuff and

take their blood.

Another argument for doping is one can't always blame the athlete. Athletes survive by

doing well and when they think the competition is cheating, there is extreme pressure to cheat

too. There are also outside individuals that have a strong persuasive element in an athlete's life.

One example of this is the Salazar case. Salazar was a track and field coach that orchestrated and

administered performance-enhancing drugs. “And while it is the responsibility of each athlete to

remain clean, the Salazar case highlights the pressure an athlete can come under to comply with

what their coach wants them to do” (Egelstaff). This was a trusted coach in theses athletes lives,

and he was telling them to take drugs. They did because they thought Salazar had their best

interest in mind. This is why Salazar got banned for life from the sport of track. The issue of

athletes doping isn't as black and white as it seems.

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I think doping shouldn’t be in sports. It makes the playing field unfair, and covers up

athlete’s raw talent. It also isn't safe for the athletes. I believe that there should be bigger

consequences for doping. I agree with WADA that no Russian athlete should have been allowed

to participate in the 2016 Olympic games. I believe that we should treat cheating and doping in

the same way we treated Lance Armstrong. Fine them millions of dollars, and don't let them

return back to the sport.

John put it well when interviewing Armstrong when he said “Look at the post-career

resurgence and public embrace of Alex Rodriguez, here’s a guy who doped at the highest levels

and also performed at the highest levels. Do you look at someone like him and wonder why he

gets more of a pass than you[Lance Armstrong] seem to be? (John)” Armstrong has one of the

worst punishments for doping ever. His reputation was drug through the mud, and he had to pay

back 111 million dollars. He was treated so differently from Alex Rodriguez who now

announces baseball games for ESPN. Rodriguez was even welcomed back into his sport after he

got suspended for a year. If more athletes faced punishments like Lance Armstrong there would

be a lot less doping in sports. If you fined athletes millions and kicked them out for life then

athletes would reconsider before they cheated.

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Work Cited

The Economist, "Doping in sport: why it can't be stopped." ​Youtube,​ The Economist, 25 Oct.

2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=z466itSHE58. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

Egelstaff, Susan. “Becoming a doping cheat not always a black and white issue.” Herald

[Glasgow, Scotland], 3 Oct. 2019. Gale OneFile: News, Web. Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.

Gerberg, Mort. "I can't decide whether to turn pro first or go directly into rehab." ​New Yorker,​ 2

Nov. 1999,

Jacobs WE, Newton H. Counterpoint: Athletes Have the Same Rights as All Other Citizens.

Points of View: Drug Testing for Sports​. September 2016:3. Web

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=23699182&site=pov-

live. Accessed October 13, 2019

John, Derek, and Stephen J. Dubner, producers. "Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean?"

freakonomics, episode 342, Stitcher and Dubner Productions, 5 July 2018,

freakonomics.com/podcast/lance-armstrong/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2019.