It never ceases to amaze me that
so-called competitive sport today involves the widespread, almost universal,
consumption of substances believed to improve performance — either speed
or endurance, or both. It makes nonsense of the idea that recreation is fun,
and not a sordid piece of commercial competition. So prevalent is the taking
of drugs that vast sums have to be expended in detecting abuse and vast lawyers’
fees sustained in attempts to dispute the charges.
There has always been a cult of dieting to meet physical challenges, but recourse
to drugs is a different kettle of fish. And some of these drugs abused are highly
potent; indeed, some athletes appear to argue that, if taking drugs enables
them to win contests, then the shortening of their lives by late toxic reactions
is justified. Amphetamine derivatives and other nervous system stimulants are
an obvious choice for such purblind persons, but narcotics, anabolic steroids,
beta-blockers, diuretics and, lately, erythropoietin have entered the lists.
The presence of some metabolites of such substances in blood or urine may often
be innocent, but not always, and this clouds the issue of testing.
In fact, there are serious doubts over the ability of some of these drugs to
improve an individual’s athletic performance, but obviously those participating
in competitive events have a naive belief that they will turn failure into success.
The belief that they confer a doubtful advantage in itself raises an ethical
question. To take a drug in the belief that it will confer an advantage which
one’s competitors lack is an attempt to cheat, whether it works or not.
It makes a mockery of the ideas of “sport” and “fair play”.
Cheating renders the event a spectacle for entertainment, not a true sport.
And, regrettably, large sums of money change hands in the process. Entertainment
today often becomes a notoriously distorted and
over-recompensed method of making a living, in comparison with nursing or pharmacy,
for example. As a commentator remarks in the Lancet for September 23, if we
accept the expense of unnecessary cosmetic surgery as a fair aid in show business,
we should not pay millions in taxation to test for illicit doping in sport,
but should allow it to go ahead and prosper.