The Enhanced Games:is doping fair? My opinion.
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Hello topical talkers,
I am writing about the topic The Enhanced Games: Is doping fair? Personally the brief answer is no and in most cases it is unacceptable. My reasons are that it is not a fair way of winning and it doesn't show talent, a fair advantage, sportsmanship and winning or losing gracefully especially at the highest stage of sports and athletics. It also can cause significant health depletions and become addictive and even dependent.
Some people in my class have suggested that people who are not fortunate enough to have the training should use drugs and I disagree as forgetting the fair aspect of things there can be extremely dangerous medical side effects but perhaps the government can do something about this like free training facilities. Ultimately it is very rare that drugs are acceptable for me and the majority of modern society.
I believe drugs are a growing and problematic issue as it just isn't fair. It raises an unfair advantage and can change the score of a world renowned game, for instance football’s World Cup. It also doesn't showcase talent or sportsmanship. As previously stated it also can cause serious medical problems like insomnia to life threatening events, heart attacks,liver damage and cardiac arrhythmia.
An argument against not doing drugs could be ,what if everybody who participated in a sporting event took drugs would it be fair? Now it would in way be fair but different drugs can have different side effects and positives also dosage can change things.
It also wouldn’t really be an event as everyone would be equal despite how people's bodies can react.
What if drugs were completely stopped? It would definitely have a good and significant impact and make the sporting industry a safer and more fair place giving more opportunities.
I just want to raise awareness. I think as a solution more sports organisations should introduce drug testing like The U.S anti-doping agency [USADA]
To conclude doping in the sports industry is an issue.
SOURCE:My own previous topical talk comments
Comments (5)
In my opinion, your stance on doping in sports is well-founded and echoes a widely held view that doping undermines the integrity of sports. The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) indeed contradicts the principles of fair play and equal opportunity that are central to athletic competition. It's true that PEDs can provide an unfair advantage, skewing results and potentially endangering the health of the athletes.
The idea of universal access to drugs as a leveler is problematic because it doesn't address the root of the inequality—access to training and resources. Instead, it could lead to a dangerous escalation in the use of PEDs, with unpredictable health consequences. Your suggestion that governments could provide free training facilities is an interesting one, as it aims to address the inequality in a more constructive and healthy way.
Moreover, the argument that if everyone used drugs, it would be fair, fails to consider the individual variability in reactions to these substances, as you've pointed out. Not all athletes would benefit equally, and the risks could be severe.
Your call for increased drug testing is a practical approach to deter doping. Organizations like the USADA play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of sports by enforcing anti-doping regulations. Their efforts help ensure that athletic achievements are the result of hard work and natural talent, not chemical enhancement.
Overall, your viewpoint promotes a sports culture that values health, fairness, and true competition, which is essential for the future of sports. It's a perspective that many would agree with, as it aligns with the spirit of sportsmanship and the long-term well-being of athletes.
44% of athletes already use enhancements and it will be 100% of the participants of the Enhanced Games. Topics like side effects of illegal substances have been highly discussed in the past, but the question in general is whether doping is fair or not.
My first impression is ,,yes" because the Enhanced Games would seperate unnatural athletes, participating in the Enhanced Games, from natural athletes, participating in the Olympic Games.
On the first view, every participant has the same chances. But the reality is different. Not everyone has access to the drugs that the oponnent takes in which means that the the steroids of person 1 can make muscles grow much faster than the drugs of person 2.
In addition to that it is also important to mention that most of the athletes taking banned substances suffer from the side effects. Doping surely isn`t fair because the drugs have differant effects on the athletes. Side effects of steroids can be high blood pressure, depression, mild mood changes or insomnia while other athletes can tell themselves happy to stay healthy and perhaps deliver the best performance of their life.
Concludingly I definitely say that doping isn`t fair due to differnet effects on the athletes.
I completely agree with your conclusion and would like to add that although all athletes will be allowed and encouraged to use performance enhancing drugs, not all athletes would choose to us the same drugs in the same dosages. There is no way to make the Enhanced Games fair as even if all athletes took the same drugs in the same doses, all of their bodies are different and the drugs would ultimately have varying effects, as you said.
Dear awesome_speech,
Concerning drug use in sports and especially the Olympics, I agree with you one hundred percent. Us humans have the tendency to always want to reach higher and do better, at the cost of our own health. Sports should portray somebodies talent or practice and not the wonders of doping. What I find on the other hand, extremely intriguing, is the development of aids outside of our body, outside of taking supplements that change our chemical reactions for that period of time. For example developing special shoes, that help you run faster, things like that. If we raise awareness on this kind of improvement, research will be funded and on top of professional athletes, also normal people can utilize the advanced technologies, that might even be fun.
Another question then is if these “aids” should be strictly separated from the Olympics, or used. One can state, that they are already using shoes, that do this and that and others might think differently of this. Either way this would be a positive development in my opinion and could entail lots of advantages for our daily lives. Maybe one day there would be shoes, that could help an elderly man or lady walk or climb the stairs…
What do you guys think of my idea? Would you promote it?
I agree with your overall opinion that doping in sports for the enhanced games is not fair and should not be supported, but I think this because of different reasons. While I see your point that doping will make for an uninteresting event, because everyone is affected the same I actually don‘t think that that‘s the case. I believe in theory the idea of seeing how far humans can push themselves with every drug available is interesting, it just is morally very questionable. I absolutely agree that it supports the wrong values if a sports event allows any and all drugs for its contestants and I also think that it can have detrimental consequences for the competing athletes or people themselves, because whatever one might think, these drugs will continue to affect them. I think that The Enhanced Games don‘t have any good effects on the real world and should under no circumstances be allowed.
I agree with you unassuming_cloudberry this is because I think that it is not fair to dope in competitions because it makes it less interesting and unfair to other athletes because we have an idea of who will win because of an advantage. Also the points you mentions about health damage brings up another reason to not dope in competitions because of the after affects. So overall people should not dope during competitions and it should not be allowed.
Today's generation is normalizing the use of drugs in the society. Doping indeed has many advantages like it increases the recovery capacity of the body after training, increases endurance, and even increases muscle mass and strength. However, these mere advantages can't overshadow the severe disadvantages of it. It not only deteriorates the player's body but also questions the fundamental values of sports like fairness and integrity.
I believe that even if everyone participating in the sports event started taking drugs, it would still not be fair. The main reason is that these drugs have different effects on different bodies. For some, it may be good at the start but will soon start to harm the body. While for others the harmful effects might be visible in the beginning stages only. Doping is an excuse for people who can't work hard to win. To achieve something, you have to shed your blood, sweat, and tears. However, instead of this, people start using drugs which gives them short-term benefits but leaves them with long-term consequences.
Thank you for your post - this is very well argued. Do you think it will ever be possible to put a stop to doping?
I believe that yes, it is possible to stop doping. However, this will not occur in just a few days or months but it will take years and decades to happen. Many anti-doping committees have started to intensify their efforts to prevent doping by implementing educational programs that will make people aware of the ill effects of doping. Also, the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has developed the WADA Code to regulate Anti-doping and aims to provide consistency for sports organizations. Also, if the public stops supporting Enhanced Games, its worth will be gone. This will therefore result in fewer athletes using drugs in games. That's why, making the public aware of the ill effects of doping is the most effective way to prevent doping. Through these examples, we can conclude that many measures are being taken to prevent doping internationally. In the future, I'm positive that we'll be able to stop doping completely as long as people raise their voices against it.