Steroids and Sports Don’t Mix

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The problems of doping in sports began to surface in the late 1950's, because of rumors that coaches were allowing players to use performance-enhancing drugs. The 1956 Olympic Games where plagued with athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, so countries began to speak out against the harm that drugs were causing to the athletes and the sport (6 Anonymous). Long-term use of performance-enhancing drugs will destroy athlete's bodies.

Doping is the use of illegal substances that is harmful to athlete's health and is capable of enhancing performance. Doping also refers to the presence of drugs in the athlete's blood or urine. So, doping in other words is cheating and can be detrimental to the individual reputation and the sport. There are two types of doping blood and chemical. Blood doping is when drugs are placed into red blood cells, oxygen carriers, and related blood products to enhance an athlete's performance (1 Anonymous). Effects of blood doping include kidney damage, allergic reactions, and blood clots (1Anonymous). Chemical doping refers to attempts to change samples used in drug testing (1Anonymous). Despite the many risks the use of drugs among athletes is still prevalent.

The first drug test was taken at the Mexico Games in 1968. At these games the IOC(International Olympic Committee) developed a list of banned substances (7 Anonymous). This list included stimulants, beta-blockers, and anabolic steroids etc. Unfortunately, because of limited technology athletes learned how to get around the system. Athletes would substitute urine samples and some would stop using their drug in sufficient time so no trace of the drug would be in the blood before tests (7 Anonymous). But in 1983, drug testing was refined. The i...

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