Back in the day when it was no regulations in the drug usage, athletes took drugs like it would be candy. Well, in many ways it was their candy! It was no regulations, no one to say stop you destroying your body. Most of these athletes died at age 45-50 because they overdosed themselves. In the 80’s and 90’s woman athletes were taking drugs without knowing what they were taking. The huge increase in testosterone these women developed muscles much bigger than women typically can . This is pretty amazing. Drugs are really dangerous to people, but they are more dangerous for women because it changes their hormones. Women give birth to children and it is dangerous to take drugs because they can cause disorders in the child. Especially in the good old days where it was no control over doping what so ever. Coaches and countries just wanted to get results and they were willing to destroy a person's life. In the modern era the drugs evolved to a higher level.
"The line between what is effective and legal and what is effective and illegal is fading—it's not clear anymore because the people who are making these other substances are getting very good and they are finding ways to dim the line,"
said Harold Connolly, a former Olympic hammer-thrower and world record-holder who used steroids in the 1960's before coming out against their use. The athletes who are taking these more advanced drugs are the ones who can afford it because it is really expensive. In most of these cases, the wealthier countries’ National Athletic Associations support their own athletes with these drugs. For example, USA, Russia, and Germany can afford these drugs and their scientists are working on newer and newer drugs because they have the money to support it, while the smaller countries with less wealth cannot afford these advanced drugs. Now the biggest problem in the athletics is that it is not about the human performance anymore. It is about money and who can afford the better drugs and perform better than the other. Some people think that doping should be allowed!
Sometimes I feel the same way. Why prohibit drugs if you can use it and athletes will keep using it anyway. Why not give a chance for a moderate and controlled drug usage.?
Well, let me tell you a story about a the 2004 Olympics. In Hungary it was two very privileged athlete who were considered the next two Olympic champion in track and field for Hungary. (We shell not talk about their names.) They went into the Olympics with so much confidence that they going to win the GOLD medal. And they did!! But in what cost?? Well the fact the matter is that they got caught and they were stripped from their Gold medals after they had their drug test. In the same Olympics three Hungarian weight lifters got caught with performance-enhancing drugs and the whole weight lifting team got banned for two years. The two Hungarian athletes violated the doping rules and were banned for two years from the sport. Hungary is a small country and the people are willing to do illegal things to get noticed. It is common in Hungary that athletes are taking drugs (but stupidly) to keep up with the world. Since this incident everyone is stereotyping Hungary as a nation that allows their athletes to take drugs. The truth is that the Hungarian federation knew what these people were doing and did not take any action to stop them! It is so common in small countries that they are willing to jeopardize the whole country reputation by allowing these people to go to the Olympics and than they can not cover up their cheating. They destroyed the country’s reputation. It is understandable that athletes are competing with each other but they have to do it within certain boundaries. That means no drugs in sport but this is not possible. There is a lot of money in sports and everyone wants to be the best no matter what. This is a bad attitude because if someone takes illegal drugs that means that he or she is not showing his or her own performance, is only shows the effectiveness of the drug that he or she takes. I have a funny example from the 80’s. The East German woman’s swimming team dominated the world at that time. It was in the Swimming World Championship where someone asked a woman swimmer why is her voice is is so deep. Her response was that she came here to compete and not to sing! This example shows that people are doing anything to be the best.
