Athletes and Performance Improvement

Athletes are always striving to be the best and so are always looking for ways to improve their performance. When they have exhausted all regular means, such as specialized training, personalized diets, a regular workout, and a healthy lifestyle, the often feel they need a little something more to give them the edge. This is when they are tempted to turn to drugs for that extra boost which will take them to the top. Often, drug-taking by athletes is coerced by coaches whose careers may depend on having the winning team. In professional sports, and particularly in the Olympic games, the pressure to win is overwhelming to many, and they succumb to the temptation of a little extra help.

The drugs used vary depending on the type of sport being engaged in. For instance, football players, baseball players, and basketball players, and especially weight-lifters need to build muscle mass and often use androstenedione and other muscle-building drugs. The NBA has just banned androstenedione (andro), as well as dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), (both over-the-counter supplements) another steroid hormone, and other steroid precursors (Wyche, 2000). Similar action has been taken in major league baseball (McKinley, 2000). DHEA and andro are produced in the testicles, ovaries and adrenal glands, and so are considered naturally occurring substances and so are classed as dietary supplements and not drugs. Anabolic steroid not only help build muscle, but also help athle

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of drug use before the Games and after she won three gold medals; the Bulgarian weight-lifting team was expelled from the games after three of them tested positive for performance enhancing drugs; Jamaican runner Merlene Oyttey, who finished fourth in the women=s 100 tested positive for the steroid nandrolone, but was exonerated by the IAAF; and Cuban men=s high jumper Javier Sotomayor won a silver medal after a two-years suspension for cocaine use was cut in half by the IAAF. The problem of performance enhancing drug use is compounded by the fact that certain drugs can mask the presence of other drugs in the body. For instance, diuretics are prohibited in athletic competition because they mask the presence of other drugs (Page, 2000). This shows the rampant drug use is by Olympic athletes, not only from the United States, but from around the world. Not only is drug use obviously widespread, but the athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs are not being treated equally, either. This trend is very disturbing. It encourages drug use because of the chances of getting away with it. If so many athletes are taking performance enhancing drugs, it calls into question the credibility of any medal winners because t

Category: Medical - A