Excellent Piece on PED's in Sports

drquirky

As this seems to be a bit of a hot topic around here, I figured I'd post this piece as it is an excellent reflection on the amount of PED use in sports. It is from an American perspective but it could apply to any country and any sport imo...

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8904906/daring-ask-ped-question

RayCun

(the boards ban on doing talk is for legal reasons, afaik)

My own problem with doping talk is that too little of it rises above the level of
"I don't think x performance is believable for y athlete - therefore they are doping"
"I do think it's believable, therefore they aren't"
and so on

It's just bar talk, on the same level as arguing about favourite athletes
"I think x performance by y athlete was the best ever"
"No, j performance by k athlete was better"

The trouble with that Grantland article is that too much of it is just bar talk.

MrCreosote

I don't agree (whatever about the boards ban). Time and again "unbelievable" performances have been proven to be just that. It's not the fault of the sports fan if they automatically assume doping- they've been conditioned to do that because of being let down time and again by the athletes.

It's a pity, but it's not just bar talk. The first thing that should come into the mind of anyone thinking rationally when they see a world-beating performance is "that was too good to be true".

The onus is on the athletes to prove them wrong at this stage IMO. Not on the fan to give them the benefit of the doubt.

robinph

All athletes are now assumed to be guilty, that is why there is all the testing for them to prove their innocence all the time. It's a shame that previous sports people have made the system now work like that.

I have had people assuming a "fake" performance from myself a few months back when I knocked a minute off my 5 mile time and someone I know was then convinced that the race organisers had got me and another guy mixed up in their results (in fairness to him they have done similar screw ups with those results before and got course measurements wrong). But a major improvement in performance is unfortunately by default often now assumed to be dodgy.

nerraw1111

That article is a fantastic read. I think people should ask questions but point out why such results or improvements are questionable. i.e the American footballers remarkable recovery or the boxer who shows up ripped.

It has to be more sophisticated than "x is doping."