School Work Essay

Students are to research ONE performance enhancing drug used for Strength and ONE performance enhancing drug used for Endurance. Report on the following areas in relation to the drugs researched. The most frequently discussed issue in sports of the 21st century is the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes. Performance enhancing drugs have numerously stirred up debates on whether or not to legalise their use in sport. However the use of such drugs is morally wrong. Athletes these days despite the illegality of these performance enhancing drugs, still continue to use them. In the sports world it is nearly impossible today to not come across any news on some sort of abuse of these drugs used by professional athletes and even management/staff positions with high authority. Drugs such as Erythropoietin (EPO) and Human Growth Hormones (HGH) have been some of the many evident drugs abused. This essay will demonstrate the ethical side for and against points on why these performance enhancing drugs should be banned and also be considered legal. First of all there are many discussions and opinions on the mistreatment of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports, but in the end it is illegal and an unfair advantage to all the athletes who aren't using any of the drugs. The whole meaning of sacrificing maybe your social life or smaller commitments to pursue in something you absolutely love is what competing in the top pro league/level is all about. Training day and night all year round until you get the chance to show everyone the hard work you have put into the sport is what makes a pro athlete. The athletes these days who are titled as "professional" and are using performance enhancing drugs are taking that shortcut, travelling further away from a clean sheet/rehabilitation and focused more on the fame and fortune. An example of this was in 2006, the Tour De France winner Floyd Landis was stripped of his title for testing positive to blood doping. Landis also confessed he was using performance enhancing drugs for years (Quinn, May 23, 2011).

Some may also argue to the fact that if the physical demand and consistency of your body to perform longer and harder at the peak of performance is required in sports such as cycling, why isn’t drugs that allow you to do that such as EPO allowed into the sport? If world famous cycling brands such as GT and SUGOi who are creating wind resistant body suits and helmets and aero dynamic wheels, how is using EPO or more importantly, how is the advantages of EPO any different from those inventions? (Annonymous, 2013) In oppose to going against the fact that athletes who aren’t using drugs such as EPO having a disadvantage, there are also legalised codes declared by Associations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (Ruskin, 2009). They believe that any performance enhancing drug such as Erythropoietin is illegal, if it violates the spirit of the sport and potential health risks (Mike, 2012). Critics say that if the performance enhancing drugs were legal and easily accessible to athletes then there would be no cheating in the sport (Annonymous, 2013). Regardless of each athlete’s socio-economic status, education, knowledge and genetics, there would be equality within that sport.

In addition, the idea that everyone would have the same competitive drive in sport is without a doubt false (Annonymous, 2013). Athletes who come from well developed countries have that access to doctors, dieticians, therapists, funding and Sports Institutes. In comparison to those athletes who come from a not so advantaged country/environment may be lacking the proper funding, education and access (Ruskin, 2009). This results in those privileged athletes to have a huge advantage over those from poorer environments (Ruskin, 2009). Receiving better results and achieving goals, but is it ethically right? That depends on the type of person and how them as an individual perceive and

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