Performance enhancers

[buckjohnson]

Just watch an ESPN doc 30 for 30 about Ben Johnson being stripped of his Olympic gold medal in the 100m. The ironic (maybe not ironic but def some irony about it) is that all but one of the finalists in that race later was caught and banned for using PE's.

Why is it that in professional sports PE's are banned? Other professions do not banned them, porn stars use them, the military use them. If my accountant needs a line of coke to get through my tax return, I am ok with it (it is his risk, his license) People use PE's all the time, but it is only sports that there is criminal, paper, and reputation stigma attached. If Lance needs doping to climb a hill on a bike my car could not climb, I am ok with that. Pro Golfers now cannot take beta blockers because a SE is calming their "nerves".

I have a libertarian approach. Live and let live, ingest what you need to get through the day, the pain, the stress, whatever.

[broncofan]

Good thread. And good question. I can think of some problems, but I'm not sure what the ultimate answer should be. First, if there are rules and some are breaking them and others are not then it's a matter of fair play. Clearly being on the juice or EPO is a huge advantage.

But then why not make it legal? I think it's because then you'd have to use the stuff in order to compete and it's extraordinarily bad for you. People wouldn't be able to play baseball professionally unless they were willing to pump themselves full of steroids and deal with the potential adverse effects including carcinogenicity. Even blood dopers can be very harmful. You may say, well you don't have to use it in order to compete, but in practical terms you do. At the professional level even a small difference in performance can be huge. So, you'd be putting enormous pressure on people to do things that will shorten their life span.

BTW, in academic environments, amphetamine use has long been a problem.

But I suppose with lax enforcement or with the problems of detection the same pressures exist. Didn't Barry Bonds use the juice because he couldn't stand to see less talented baseball players cheating and getting better results? So, if some people are cheating and getting away with it then the pressure is there for reasonably honest people to cheat too. So, there is no good answer. Maybe legalizing it is more honest but you have to admit it leads to problems too. Legalizing it would mean that all professional athletes had to sign on to using roids just to compete in their sport.

[Kevin Dong]

Poor guy. Feel bad for him and Lance Armstrong. Those guys got the book thrown at them, meanwhile everyone else is doping too. I don't get it.

[Prospero]

If its a sportingcompetition isn't using a performance enhancing drug rather the same as being given a privileged advance glimpse of the answers in an important examination? It gives you an unfair advantage in the sport.

[broncofan]

If its a sportingcompetition isn't using a performance enhancing drug rather the same as being given a privileged advance glimpse of the answers in an important examination? It gives you an unfair advantage in the sport.

From what I've seen it creates an unbelievable advantage for those using v. those not. Part of sports is about finding ways to make the most of whatever physical limits you have. Physicality matters and in some sports more than others but you make the skilled technician obsolete when you allow roid abuse. Size and strength become the predominant commodities The Michael Chang's and Spud Webb's of the world disappear.

At least part of the enjoyment of sports is the illusion (unless it's more than that) that people have more to offer than their innate gifts.

[Avers]

All good PE-s are artificial testosterone level enchancers. This is an answer to this question.

[Dino Velvet]

It gives you an unfair advantage in the sport.

Also unfair to the heroes of the past who were clean but would now have their records erased. Also possible some people having a "more is better" attitude really abusing the drug causing health problems. Lastly, I don't believe athletes need to live the life of a monk but kids are paying attention and I don't want to set that type of example for them.

[freedom]

Interesting thread and one close to my heart, ex-athlete and degree in human physiology.

My personal take follows Buck's. The fact is over the last 4 decades some athletes have benefited hugely from cutting edge use of drugs while most others have not. The determining factor has not been innate talent or work ethic but the technical resources, and institutional complicity, of the place where you grew up. It is no surprise that the most prolific drug use has come from countries that have the capability to invest in these biotech fields, USA, Russia, China, Germany... This is deeply unfair to those from less industrialised, and less vested in sporting glory, nations.

Addressing the common rejoinder, "but we'll force our young people to kill themselves young just to compete", this isn't actually true. The performance increases from substances like steroids and EPO etc follow the law of diminishing returns. The majority of improvement comes from the first increments, falling to nothing indeed becoming counter-productive at higher and higher doses. The dose to improve performance is below the dose shown to cause harm. And the fact is athletes who are devoted enough to compete on the world stage do LOTS of things that are legal but detrimental to long-term health. I remember being a teenage runner and discovering that female runners training at the required level often stop having periods because the body can't afford the resources... The key point is if these things were legal then every athlete would be able to be supervised by physicians ensuring that extreme (harmful) levels of these substances are not used, and monitoring the secondary effects without pre-text.

I recommend the books of Charlie Francis, Ben Johnson's coach, who after the shit fell apart came clean with the full paradigm he used for his athletes in the 80's, ensuring he would be persona non grata in coaching circles from then on. They forced me to question my previously held belief that drug use in sport was "evil".

[Prospero]

I am clearly missing something here. i thought sport and athletics were about the natural and perhaps honed strength, skill, endurance and other physical qualities of individuals working alone or in teams. Once you introduce chemicals or drugs into the equation you are putting artificial elements into play. It is no longer athlete A it is athlete A who has taken X Y and Z. What a tragedy that we spoil the natural element of sport like this..

[freedom]

Is a high protein diet natural? What about weight training for sports other than weightlifting? The evidence that highly competitive people will use any possible advantage goes all the way back to the classical world. We have written records of the potions and techniques that the original Olympic athletes used!

Athletes will do whatever they can, at the moment only a minority have access to the resources required to compete. The only way natural talent can shine through is for an even playing field to be provided to all... IMHO