So what is a drug?
A substance that can be taken in a variety of ways to produce physical and/or psychological effects on the person taking it.
It may also cause some effects that are both unpleasant and unwanted
- They can become addictive
- Smoking damages the heart and oxygen carrying capability of the blood. It is also a contributing factor to coronary heart disease
- Both alcohol and caffeine cause extra urine to be disposed of, therefore add to the risks of dehydration.
- Long term effects of alcohol include liver damage.
Why do sports-people take drugs?
- Sports-people decide to take drugs to enhance or improve their performance or are encouraged to do so by their coach
- Extrinsic rewards – Money, winning a gold medal at the Olympics worth £1,000,000 in sponsorships.
- Even on a day to day basis sports-people make a lot of money by simply competing at a high level.
The Tour de France 1998 halted because of drug scandal all the cyclists where on drugs.
Even if they do not win, drugs may allow a lesser athlete to take part in their sport at a level they could not have otherwise reached
Performance Enhancing drugs fall into 2 categories
- Prohibited classes of substances
- Prohibited methods
Blood doping – taking a paint of your blood, stored in cold storage, on the day of the event the blood is put back into the body so that the individual has more blood than the average person flowing around there body therefore more oxygen molecules.
What are prohibited classes of substances?
- Stimulants – these help people to be more alert, enabling them to think more quickly. Using these drugs helps to overcome tiredness. Stimulants may produce side effects such as Insomnia, increased heart rate
- Narcotics / analgesics – this enables athletes to get back into action quickly after an injury. They act like painkillers
- Anabolic steroids – they increase muscle mass and develop bone growth, therefore increase strength while at the same time allow the athlete to train harder. It can also increase aggression.
This is the most common of drugs used to enhance performance. The drug mimics the male hormone testosterone. Side effects include the deepening of the voice, facial hair, mood swings and anxiety. Liver disease and infertility in woman are also common side effects. – Anabolic steroids are commonly associated with certain sports, rugby, and contact sports, which involve high
- Diuretics – used to increase the amount of urine produced and to increase kidney function, thereby speeding up the elimination of fluid from the body.
In turn this will cause rapid weight loss in sports where performers are required to compete within strict weight boundaries
Side effects include dehydration, which can result in dizziness muscle cramps headaches and nausea
- Peptide, chemical and physical manipulation- Theses types of drugs increase muscle growth assist in recovery
What are prohibited Methods?
Blood doping is a banned process naot a banned drug. If an athlete trains at high altitude the oxygen carrying capacity of their blood increases. Athlete’s train at high altitude for a period of time and then have as much as 2 pints of blood taken – the body replenishes the blood.
Near a compettion day the red blood cells are put back into the athletes blood steam and this process is thought to increase their performance by up to 20%. – aerobic actives
The IOC has strict rules prohibited substances. At the moment there are 4000 banned substances.
Taking performance-enhancing drugs is regarded as cheating and athletes found guilty pay the penalty within their sport.
THEY ARE BANNED!
