The True Spirit of Sports: Why Doping Undermines Fair Competition and Human Potential

Over the years, athletes have indulged in different kinds of rigorous training and acted just so they could attain excellence and succeed in their profession. However, along the line, many of them have now delved into using drugs that enhance their performance, and this is literally seen as cheating in the world of sport, leading to the creation of anti-doping agencies that, on a regular basis, examine athletics to ascertain if their performance is under the influence of something or not. Today, I'll be stating my thoughts on everything that requires doping in sports.

To start with, in my opinion, when it comes to sporting activities, we all know that to be the best, you must be ready to go beyond what others are doing, whether that's engaging in continuous training and practice, watching what you eat, tracking your sleeping schedule, and the like, all in the name of staying fit, preparing and having the perfect shape, and developing strategies for excelling. However, aside from these, some athletes who use performance enhancement to improve their performance have changed the face of sport, making it seem as though others aren't putting in great effort because, at the end of the day, they break records for something that in reality seems impossible.

I believe the use of such drugs in sports defeats the purpose of the competition that's supposed to be built on fairness. Performance enhancement drugs are nothing but a cheating mechanism that shouldn't be allowed in any sport that calls for fairness in competition, because in a situation where an athlete uses drugs, they understand how to perform better than those who engage in the competition with their normal strength.

So since it's deemed cheating, it shouldn't be allowed in sports, and neither should the ban placed on it because it was lifted. In my opinion, the purpose of sport is one for entertainment, competition, and then to test human limits, or, should I say, push humans to do the extraordinary with their own strength. Drugs crumbled that ideology because, unlike before, many now run under the influence of such and cart away with the medals that should have been won in fairness by others who put in their all to attain that height.

Drugs are known to have side effects, and basically everyone knows this, including the athlete who uses them, but most of them hardly care or listen to warming about not using them due to the side effects. All they care about is their immediate performance and the achievement it brings them, so in my opinion, regardless of whether the side effects are reduced or not, I don't think it should be allowed. Everyone should perform with their natural strength brooded by their training.

Before you can be regarded as an athlete, you must have at least known the sport and indulged in different training to improve your performance, which helps you get better and better through the years. But when such a person uses drugs, it goes on to enhance their performance beyond the capacity they would have had without them, so although it doesn't discredit the effort they've put into training, in a way it has discredited that of others.

Because others they're competing with who didn't use the drugs would then look like they are poor in the sport and haven't put in enough effort in training to perform well enough, it's unknown to the general public that the person who won did it under the influence of a drug, which enhances their performance and makes them more exceptional than others.

So with that being said, I agree with everyone who opposes doping in sports, and I stand by the duties of the antidoping agency and hope they keep up the good work in testing and apprehending offenders of the law in terms of the usage of performance enhancements in sport.

All photos used in this article are taken and edited on canva.