Level playing field in sports: Should Performance-enhancing drugs be legalised under medical control in elite sport?
Should drugs be welcomed into elite sport under medical control? One of the arguments surrounding this discussion is whether or not the current blanket ban on doping in elite sport should be lifted?
My view on this argument is that the blanket ban on performance enhancing drugs should be lifted in professional/elite sport as it would present a more equal and level playing field in sport.
This may have a positive impact on poorer teams as they are already disadvantaged by other factors ā i.e. equipment, knowledge and funding. In addition to this many different factors state that performance of the athletes would improve significantly from the use of performance enhancing drugs. This is proven by the use of steroids, as it increases muscle mass and strength and from that athletes will be able to hit harder, run faster, jump higher and swim faster to increase their performance.
I think athletes should have the right to take drugs but with restrictions and regulations on certain drugs. Certainly, there will be side effects to talking the drugs. However, the athletes will be notified about the risks and it is then down to them if they want to take the drugs or not. Moreover, athletes take ricks in sport every time they compete, but taking the doping in sport are additional and avoidable, whereas other ricks in sport are unavoidable this was stated by Wiesing.Ā
Alongside this, many banned substances have not even been proven to improve performance, so taking them may be a waste of time but so is banning them! Also legalising drugs would save the money currently spend on testing, as of that drug testing does not always work as it probably catches the innocent more than the guilty which is stated by the BBC.
What would this mean for sport if drugs were legalised under medical control? ā would there be a more level playing field for athletes within competition?
To comprehensively assess any increase in risk afforded by the use of drugs or technology, every performance-enhancing method needs to be studied. Such work cannot be done while use of performance-enhancing drugs is illegal. We believe that rather than driving doping underground, use of drugs should be permitted under medical supervision.
If we look at elite sport in todayās society it is generally unfair as athleteās tamper with their bodies (Body Modification) in vast ways. The tampering consists of the way they train, eat, the clothes they wear i.e. reduce wind or water resistance. Some athletes even use cosmetic surgery which is nonessential to speed up recovery from injury.
Funding is a massive factor among certain sports/athletes as is the country of the athlete is from (technology) because where funding is greater so will technology and from that the athlete will be at a superior advantage. Another factor people fail to see is the difference in body type, as some athletes have greater muscle type and bone structure, which give them an advantage.
All these body modifications add up once in a competition and thatās why some athletes are more advanced as others. Furthermore, āSport discriminates against the genetically unfit. Sport is the province of the genetic elite (or freak)ā this is stated my Savulescu, Foddy and Clayton.Ā
To summarise this whole blog up, drugs in sport is nothing new as over recent decades there have been numerous cases of athletes being caught doping. So, taking that in to considerations athletes should be able to use drugs in sport under medical. Ā
Savulescu, J., Foddy, B. and Clayton, M. (2004). Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(6), pp.666-670.
Bbc.co.uk. (n.d.). BBC - Ethics - Sporting Ethics: For Legalisation. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/sport/debate/for.shtml [Accessed 6 Nov. 2018].
Wiesing, U. (2011). Should Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sport be Legalized under Medical Supervision?.Ā Sports Medicine, 41(2), pp.167-176.
Pexels for the use of the image on this blog. Ā
