For many athletes, sport is not just their job. It is something that they have dedicated so much to. So why throw it away by cheating?
First, let’s have a look at the history of substances within sport. The use of stimulants and performance-enhancing drugs can be traced back to Ancient Greece, but official regulations came into place during the 1920s. Doping is described by Interpol as the “act of consuming artificial and often illegal substances to gain an advantage over others in sporting competitions”. It is currently the most widespread method of cheating.
Despite the risks, it is understandable why athletes turn to cheating. Winning is addictive, and at high sporting levels is often lucrative. This can cause coaches to force their athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs to ensure success. In 2021, the Russian figure skater Kamilia Valieva was found to be using a banned heart medication and was barred from competing. However, the 17 year olds ban was lifted so Valieva could compete in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Valieva won gold but was stripped of her medals after the discovery of the drug test. At her age, it is very unlikely that she took those drugs of her own free will. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s director general Olivier Niggli said, “There was a choice to sacrifice an athlete rather than indicating who actually helped her dope”. It is often the athlete who suffers the brunt of the accusation, as Valieva’s coach was seen at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics this year.
Not only is this unsportsmanlike, but doping can also pose serious health risks. Many of the drugs that are banned can have harmful side effects, such as liver failure, strokes, and heart attacks. As doping is illegal, there is more pressure on making drugs undetectable than making them safe. These side effects can be career ending, so is it worth the risk?
Doping has caused athletes to experience severe mental health issues. Former rugby league star Terry Newton took his own life in 2010 after taking growth hormones the previous year. He was banned from rugby league. Newton’s friend said that “the comfort blanket of rugby league was taken away, and he found himself unable to cope”. These complications are often not thought about when discussing cheating. The accusation is often treated in a vacuum, with zero compassion or consideration to external factors the athlete may be experiencing. There is barely any support for if the athletes were forced into taking drugs.
Cheating damages the safety and integrity of the sport, but it can also set unrealistic standards for athletes. In 1980, Rosie Ruiz applied for the Boston Marathon. The previous year, she entered the New York Marathon but missed the entry deadline. To gain entry, Ruiz lied about dying from brain cancer and completed the marathon in a record time. Suspicion was raised when Ruiz completed the Boston marathon and shaved 25 minutes off her time from New York. When asked, she couldn’t recall her split times and had a suspiciously low heart rate for someone who just ran a marathon. It came to light when a photographer said they saw Ruiz travelling on the subway during the marathon, exposing her as a cheater. This created a divide between rule-abiding athletes and those who cheat.
Rule-bending can hurt the fans’ enjoyment of the sport. The 1990 Japanese F1 Grand Prix saw the championship split between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. If both drivers crashed, then Senna would take the title – so what happened? The lights went out and Senna crashed into Prost within nine seconds of the race. The tension of the race was lost and there was a massive delay in it continuing, just because Senna bent the rules to his advantage. Arguably the race would have been much more exciting if the two drivers had fought it out on track, winning the race through talent in the car rather than underhanded tactics.
Athletes should be able to compete and win without taking risks that could endanger them. For professional athletes at an elite level, everyone should be given an even playing field to prevent resentment and segregation within a discipline. As Dick Pound from the World Anti-Doping Agency said, “You respect the rules, you respect your opponents, you respect yourself, you play fair”. Cheating and doping creates a massively unfair divide and should not be tolerated – if not for the game, for the health of the athletes. However, support should be given to those who find themselves in a spiral. Like many things, the situation is not black and white. Athletes are human and make mistakes; grace and sympathy should be given.
