Opinions

Fri, 27 Dec, 2019

To dope or not to dope: The ethics of performance enhancers in sports!

Linked Table of Contents

Introduction

Doping is a form of human enhancement that lets an athlete perform beyond the limitations of our everyday species' functioning.One of the most common drugs for doping is performance-enhancing steroids. If we ban doping, it will prevent athletes from taking unfair shortcuts and maintain a degree of discipline. Many athletes think that banning doping prevents them from achieving the very best degrees of success. The question is, is doping a fair means to enhance the athlete's performance, and should it be allowed in sports?

Should doping not be allowed in sports?

Sport is all about competing based on ability. Legalising doping might pressure all athletes to start doping and stop competing without it. It would affect their health, but it will also result in questioning the importance of training. Everybody reacts differently to doping, so some may have an unfair advantage over others. This ruins the concept of sports activities. Therefore, this makes it unfair to allow doping in professional sports activities. 

However, the kind of intense ban that exists on doping should be removed. Instead, it should be amended to a situation where a sportsman who is caught doping is not humiliated but is given the help they need. This can include medical help, including but not restricted to mental health help. This would be an amendment again to how suicide was changed from a crime to a mental illness. 

It is important to understand that a strict ban makes athletes consume these drugs while being secretive. This usually is done without a doctor's supervision, making it all the riskier. Amending it will help them understand that they could always get medical help. 

Conclusion

Steroids and other performance-improving drugs are still used by a few athletes irrespective of their felony reputation. Such drugs mustn't be legalised—however, we need some amendments to ensure that athletes consuming such steroids would get the help they deserve. 

The irresponsible lifting of the doping ban would increase the fitness risks to athletes. In the end, they might need to push themselves to the breaking point. So even if doping may help athletes know their potential, it is still an unsafe method. Lastly, doping shouldn't be allowed as it is an unfair means and can have severe side effects on the athlete's body.

ICC, BCCI

FAQs

  1. What do you mean by 'doping'?

Doping means the use of illegal substances by sportspersons to gain an unfair advantage in sports competitions over other athletes.

  1. Should 'doping' be allowed in sports?

No, doping should not be allowed in sports because it may lead to injustice and unintended bias in the game.

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