Doping in Sport: Cycling, Athletics - Is a Life Ban The Answer?
"Through the mud and the beer, and the blood and the cheers, I've seen champions come and go. So if you got the guts mister, yeah, if you got the balls. If you think it's your time, then step to the line, and bring on your wrecking ball" - Wrecking Ball (2012)
In a time when bankers get bonuses exceeding the amount of money hundreds of thousands of people earn in a life time for financially and morally destroying the country and the world economy, it is safe to say that trust is like gold dust in our increasingly paranoid society. Sport is a way for people to come together to forget about their daily life struggles, for them to unite in joy and sometimes disappointment. However, with recent drug revelations across the world of sport and most notably in cycling and athletics, it seems as though sport has fallen victim to the polluted world that it was once spared from. Is the rare trust that people had in sport beginning to fade? Well, it is certainly not getting any stronger.
Having been seen as the 'Superman' of cycling for many years, Lance Armstrong's credibility dropped to zero after it was revealed that he had been using illegal stimulants in order to aid his race for numerous years. The American cyclist who won a record number of Tour de France races was later stripped of these 7 titles that he won between 1999 and 2005 after he admitted on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he had actually been doping for a large amount of his career despite his earlier denials. For nearly a decade fans had been supporting Armstrong with undeniable trust, they bought in to not only him as an athlete but his business buying millions of pounds worth of merchandise. Children aspired to be him, adults wished they were him and cancer sufferers saw him as a hero. But little did they know that they were investing in a cheat.
Armstrong opened the flood gates in 2012 and since then numerous cyclists have come out and told the world of their drug use. Germany's Erik Stable recently admitted to "many years" of doping. The sprint cyclist admitted to using banned substances from 1996 to 2003 where he won 12 Tour de France stages and the Tour's Green jersey on numerous occasions. Surely now he will be stripped of these titles and the 43 year old will be banished from the Tour's history only to be remembered as 'some guy who cheated' and nothing more.
Multiple Olympic Medallist, Stuart O'Grady, could possibly be stripped of all his achievements after admitting that he used performance enhancing drugs during the 1998 tour. What the Australian along with multiple other cyclist did during their careers has not only harmed their own cycling days but it is having an incredible knock-on affect on today's cycling world. 2013 Tour de France winner, Christopher Froome, was asked on a daily basis about drug taking and Team Sky even released the cyclists' performance results in order to prove his innocence even though there was nothing except his great riding that could have led people to think that Froome was anything but clean. Supporters have begun to question the authenticity of even the most trusted riders in the cycling world. It seems that no one is free from allegations in the wake of one of the biggest doping scandals the sporting world has even seen.
It is not only in cycling that doping has tarnished the trust of the people, the world of Athletics has been hit recently and not with a gentle slap but with a full on wrecking ball. Sprinting stars such as Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and multiple other sporting superstars have been tested positive for substances band by the Athletics governing body the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federation]. But what will happen to these athletes. Will it be a simple ban of a few months or years and then they will return to the track as if nothing happened or will the IAAF and World Anti-Doping Agency increase their punishment, Usain Bolt sure does not have the answer - "I don't make the rules. I can't determine how harsh they should be. In life things happen, people make mistake, mishaps happen. That's why they have the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations], Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] and all these people sitting and deliberating what they should put in place and what should happen."
To be truthful, the athletes should not be the ones with the answers to all these problems. The IAAF and WADA should lay down the law. Is a few months enough of a punishment for cheats? In school we are taught never to cheat and suffer punishment for it but if young aspiring athletes see that for taking a few performance enhancing drugs you only get a very minimal punishment in return for glory then it will be a risk that they will be willing to take for sure. Many have been calling for life bans from the sport if an athlete is caught using even the most minimal amount of prohibited drugs - now that's a real lesson. Some have argued if you bring in the life ban that you might risk losing some of the world's great sporting superstars. But are they really 'sporting superstars' if they are cheats? The simple answer is no.
Trust needs to be brought back in to sport quicker that it left. In times of hardship people look to their sporting heroes to relieve them from their troubles. It might be a lot of pressure to put on an athlete - carrying the emotions of a nation - but that is what they do. When Murray beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final the nation erupted in incredible joy that lasted well in to the next two or three weeks. As Wales lifted the Six Nations trophy for the second consecutive year the nation raised their arms in elation as their troubles were released through their fingertips in to space just for a little while. London 2012 - have we ever seen our nation so happy before?
Doping in not something that just effects the athlete or the sport its waves crash down on thousands of supporters and nations. Thus, something needs to be done, not in a five years time or in a years time but now. Sport and its supporter's trust is already weak if it is hit with another wrecking ball then I do not think that its cracks can hold the pressure much longer.
In a time when bankers get bonuses exceeding the amount of money hundreds of thousands of people earn in a life time for financially and morally destroying the country and the world economy, it is safe to say that trust is like gold dust in our increasingly paranoid society. Sport is a way for people to come together to forget about their daily life struggles, for them to unite in joy and sometimes disappointment. However, with recent drug revelations across the world of sport and most notably in cycling and athletics, it seems as though sport has fallen victim to the polluted world that it was once spared from. Is the rare trust that people had in sport beginning to fade? Well, it is certainly not getting any stronger.
Having been seen as the 'Superman' of cycling for many years, Lance Armstrong's credibility dropped to zero after it was revealed that he had been using illegal stimulants in order to aid his race for numerous years. The American cyclist who won a record number of Tour de France races was later stripped of these 7 titles that he won between 1999 and 2005 after he admitted on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he had actually been doping for a large amount of his career despite his earlier denials. For nearly a decade fans had been supporting Armstrong with undeniable trust, they bought in to not only him as an athlete but his business buying millions of pounds worth of merchandise. Children aspired to be him, adults wished they were him and cancer sufferers saw him as a hero. But little did they know that they were investing in a cheat.
Armstrong opened the flood gates in 2012 and since then numerous cyclists have come out and told the world of their drug use. Germany's Erik Stable recently admitted to "many years" of doping. The sprint cyclist admitted to using banned substances from 1996 to 2003 where he won 12 Tour de France stages and the Tour's Green jersey on numerous occasions. Surely now he will be stripped of these titles and the 43 year old will be banished from the Tour's history only to be remembered as 'some guy who cheated' and nothing more.
Multiple Olympic Medallist, Stuart O'Grady, could possibly be stripped of all his achievements after admitting that he used performance enhancing drugs during the 1998 tour. What the Australian along with multiple other cyclist did during their careers has not only harmed their own cycling days but it is having an incredible knock-on affect on today's cycling world. 2013 Tour de France winner, Christopher Froome, was asked on a daily basis about drug taking and Team Sky even released the cyclists' performance results in order to prove his innocence even though there was nothing except his great riding that could have led people to think that Froome was anything but clean. Supporters have begun to question the authenticity of even the most trusted riders in the cycling world. It seems that no one is free from allegations in the wake of one of the biggest doping scandals the sporting world has even seen.
It is not only in cycling that doping has tarnished the trust of the people, the world of Athletics has been hit recently and not with a gentle slap but with a full on wrecking ball. Sprinting stars such as Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and multiple other sporting superstars have been tested positive for substances band by the Athletics governing body the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federation]. But what will happen to these athletes. Will it be a simple ban of a few months or years and then they will return to the track as if nothing happened or will the IAAF and World Anti-Doping Agency increase their punishment, Usain Bolt sure does not have the answer - "I don't make the rules. I can't determine how harsh they should be. In life things happen, people make mistake, mishaps happen. That's why they have the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations], Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] and all these people sitting and deliberating what they should put in place and what should happen."
To be truthful, the athletes should not be the ones with the answers to all these problems. The IAAF and WADA should lay down the law. Is a few months enough of a punishment for cheats? In school we are taught never to cheat and suffer punishment for it but if young aspiring athletes see that for taking a few performance enhancing drugs you only get a very minimal punishment in return for glory then it will be a risk that they will be willing to take for sure. Many have been calling for life bans from the sport if an athlete is caught using even the most minimal amount of prohibited drugs - now that's a real lesson. Some have argued if you bring in the life ban that you might risk losing some of the world's great sporting superstars. But are they really 'sporting superstars' if they are cheats? The simple answer is no.
Trust needs to be brought back in to sport quicker that it left. In times of hardship people look to their sporting heroes to relieve them from their troubles. It might be a lot of pressure to put on an athlete - carrying the emotions of a nation - but that is what they do. When Murray beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final the nation erupted in incredible joy that lasted well in to the next two or three weeks. As Wales lifted the Six Nations trophy for the second consecutive year the nation raised their arms in elation as their troubles were released through their fingertips in to space just for a little while. London 2012 - have we ever seen our nation so happy before?
Doping in not something that just effects the athlete or the sport its waves crash down on thousands of supporters and nations. Thus, something needs to be done, not in a five years time or in a years time but now. Sport and its supporter's trust is already weak if it is hit with another wrecking ball then I do not think that its cracks can hold the pressure much longer.
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