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| Dueñas Nevado. Caught for doping |
As the sport grows worldwide, it becomes more and more demanding. Demanding riders' performances, time, health and so on. A combination of a demanding Society and the way brands and events position themselves causes competitors to be driven to a point where the athletes find themselves breaking the rules and bending the limits beyond insanity. All because of what these factors make us THINK is important. We find that more and more professional cyclists as well as other professional athletes are "doping”. The rise of substance abuse among professional athletes is rising immensely and I highly blame society and brand positioning for situations resulting in crises like this.- Then again- You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make it drink. The sad thing about the result of doping is that careers get ended, health gets destroyed, lives get ruined and reputations gat trashed. All for what? Some cash? A little exposure perhaps? Is winning a race really worth risking it all? With a lot of big organizations putting large sums of money into professional sport, it is not only the athletes whose names and reps get ruined. The organization as a whole gets a negative image. Take for example Team Barloworld- a South African sponsored team who in 2007 achieved who achieved the best results ever by a wild card entry. www.southafrica.info/. In 2008 they withdrew sponsorship due to Spanish rider Dueñas Nevado being tested positive for EPO (Erythropoietin) It was good that they pulled out, before things got messy. Doping proves to be for the incompetent of mankind. Take a man like Lance Armstrong, he
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| Lance Armstrong The Face behind the legend |
Ø Won The Tour de France Seven consecutive times;
Ø Did so after defeating cancer;
Ø Started additional campaigns where he went for voluntary testing;
Ø Was under federal investigation for the whole of 2011(after retirement) and proved innocent
He proved that it’s not impossible without the drugs.
Questions have been raised, like should doping be legalized? Maybe there won’t be that much uprising. What do you think?
Doping should not be legalised in any sport. If doping had to be legalised athletes would not be achieving / winning with natural endurance and capabilities. World records are broken in all forms of sport, and if this is achieved using performance enhancing then can one say that it is a true record that is broken, if the previous record holder achieved the record without performance enhancers.....
ReplyDeleteCycling is one of the most spoken sports regarding doping...take Alberto Contador for examplean as reported in the media, he maintains that he tested positive because of contaminated meat that he ate, I would like to know how does he justify that, as the teams that participate in the Tour have their own special chefs / staff that prepare meals, snacks and drinks...
When Lance Armstrong won his first TdF, the French Media reported that there must have been something in the Chemo treatment that he received to have made him be able to ride and win the way that he did. Lance was the youngest Pro Cyclist to win the World Title as well as a Stage Win in the TdF, he was 21 years old, not to mention that at the age of 16 he was competing in Triathlons with much more older athletes, and winning!!!!
There are many times when the Media reports that an athlete wins because they are performance enhancing and in actual fact it is not so. This can be very damaging to an athlete's career if the Media goes by speculation.
So true AdB you will never be able to test your limits niether will you be able to understand the true meaning on dedication, commitment and hard work.
ReplyDeleteI am totally against performance enhancing ... does it not have long term effects on the body?
ReplyDeleteWell I think that depends on the athlete. I would say that when used in moderation the long term effects are scarce. But how does one classify “in moderation” when altering the human body’s natural state? It is risky of course. It is even more risky when the drive to win causes the athlete not to think about the circumstances. Athletes tend to think that “the more I take, the better I will perform” -bad idea. The word moderation isn’t a part of some people’s vocabulary. Check out
Deletethis link: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/performance-enhancing-drugs/HQ01105
ReplyDeletelet them legalize it but only for athletes during their training but when it comes to competition there must be no trace of any of these substances in their systems...
ReplyDeleteLegalising it during training would be defeating the object. Come competition time then the the athlete will not produce desired results.
ReplyDelete