the sports and drugs debate

chewy

havn't seen this elsewhere tell me if its already started on some other board _recently_

did anybody see the docu on c4 about athletes on drugs? missed it meself

there lots of people around argueing that they should legalise drugs use in sports cos 9 i read an article in times the other day and afik it said )

its so hard to stop completely

drugs only help power and stamina and the actual difference in athletes is really to do with the application of such, mental skill, tactics etc... so changing/ improving more animal traits such as power and stamina can only have a limited affect on the real competitive nature of sports.... ie skill etc

Tommy Vercetti

I saw bits of the C4 "experiment", it didn't really provide any conclusive results from what I saw. The athletes were a mixed bunch so obviously some would see vast changes while others weren't really affected significantly. If they had taken, say eight 100m sprinters who were capable of say 10.5 secs and gave half of them steroids then the effects would have been a lot more visible. Again, I didn't see the whole program so I'm only going on what I saw.

I have mixed feelings on the whole debate though. If drugs were completely legalised to try and put everyone on a level field, then there would be some who would have to take things to a next level, whatever that may be. Then there would be parents giving their kids steroids because they are desperate for them to succeed in even the most pointless school sports days etc.

chill

chewy wrote:

drugs only help power and stamina and the actual difference in athletes is really to do with the application of such, mental skill, tactics etc... so changing/ improving more animal traits such as power and stamina can only have a limited affect on the real competitive nature of sports.... ie skill etc

You MUST be kidding right ? Power and stamina are EVERYTHING in most Olympic sports !

bus77

People are only meant to go so fast. If you start messing with those drugs then your only fooling the body into thinking it can go faster than it's recommended rpm. You can leagalise drugs tommorow but then in 20 years time youl get people dieing earlier than their time with heart atacts ect.

johnKarma

bus77 wrote:

People are only meant to go so fast. If you start messing with those drugs then your only fooling the body into thinking it can go faster than it's recommended rpm.

Isn't athletics today all about pushing the body beyond its "recommended rpm"?

Athletes and trainers have spent the last century coming up with all kinds of inventive ways to push the human body further and further, way beyond what was intended by nature.

What is seen as basic training today was frowned upon as "unsportsmanlike" by British Athletes 100 years ago when the Olympics was revived. I wonder what they would have thought about hypoxiators and altitude tents, along with "natural" supplements like Creatine? All of these can have harmful effects, both for sport and for the individual athletes, but they are considered to be acceptable.

It seems that performance-enhancing drugs are one step behind the logical conclusion of this trend, which is the GM athlete.

Athletics has lost its way. The Olympic ideal (athleticism, character, sportsmanship) is entirely incompatible with the economics behind modern sport, which demands infintely better, faster, stronger athletes in order to keep the audience interested and sponsors happy. This means that human limitation must be overcome in order to satisfy the monied interests.

This leads to another question: How can an organisation (like the IOC, which is rife with corruption) be expected to uphold drugs regulations if its economic future depends on constantly better results?

I reckon that within 50 years, people will look back on today's anti-doping scandals as a quaint anachronism, just like we look back on the notion of training being "unsportsmanlike" today. This evolution in attitude will be backed by the corporate world and athletics bodies alike.

Kind of sad, really.

chewy

(well i couldn't explain the sarticle very well)

"You MUST be kidding right ? Power and stamina are EVERYTHING in most Olympic sports !"

yes true but if all the athletes were on drugs, the crucial difference between athletes is their mental ability...

rasising it above simple fetes of animal strength and power