Sports are meant to measure the physical fitness and skill of the players. That was their original purpose, and that should be their purpose today. But the widespread use of performance enhancers has made the competition unfair. Athletes training properly can lose to people who achieved their fitness through injecting or ingesting various drugs. Which is much like when you find the best online casinos in Canada and go for the jackpot, knowing the games are rigged – an uphill fight with a superior enemy.
Athletes know that they risk their credibility and their entire career with doping, but they seem not to care – until they are caught, of course. And they are caught in the end – let these major scandals involving major athletes be the showcase of this fact.
Lance Armstrong
Armstrong was considered the best cyclist of the world for years. With seven Tour de France victories under his belt, he was the hero of an entire generation of bikers. Until, of course, he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. As a result, he was stripped of all of his Tour de France titles, and was forbidden ever to compete again.
According to the US Anti-Doping Agency, this was “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”
The BALCO Scandal
One of the biggest doping scandals of the modern world involves the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, and athletes like former American League MVP Jason Giambi, former San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, track and field athlete (and Olympic gold winner) Marion Jones, as well as All-Pro linebacker Bill Romanowski. The scandal, which had a huge media coverage in the early 2000s, and led to the introduction of strict regulation and severe punishment of doping to MLB.
Maradona
The Argentinian soccer legend was one of the best known players ever to set foot on the field. That until 1994, when he tested positive for ephedrine. The player had two appearances in the 1994 World Cup, scoring one goal against the national of Greece, before being sent home. The scandal destroyed his reputation, and put an end to his 17 year long soccer career. Needless to say, the Argentinian team was eliminated by the Romanian national without him.
The massive drug tests of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London
The organizers of the London Summer Olympics in 2012 have announced that they will do a massive number of drug tests on at least half of all the participants. Their zero tolerance and the 150 scientists analyzing the thousands of samples taken have led to the suspension of almost 40 athletes, including Turkish athlete Aslı Çakır-Alptekin, who won the women’s 1500 meters event, Belarusian athlete Nadzeya Ostapchuk, winner of the women’s shot put event, and the entire USA’s Men’s 4 × 100 meter relay team.
