Another question...

[bexter]

"Sport is all about winning and this means that sportspersons will inevitably turn to drugs to improve performance"

How can I explain this one?

[gg]

you arguing for that statement or against?

[bexter]

Sorry, should have said.
I'm really just discussing both sides, whether its true or not.

[Mrs H.]

I suspect it largely depends if there's any money in it - if there is then i would say the statement is largely true

ps Bexter the results are on the SBOC site under details - you had a very good run

[harry]

some would say sport is not all about winning but about the pursuit of mastery

[Lumpy Lycra]

I'd question the premise -

Sport is all about winning

- and therefore the conclusion. Sure, this is true for a minority, and that minority is going to be more susceptible to temptation.

But anyone into sport for recreation / health / social / enjoyment is going to be much less vulnerable.

[rosalind]

Lombardian rule of "Win at all costs" has taken over the British recreational view, as it was the Americans way to get rich, and the British participating in sport were generally the rich ones.
Money is the main argument.
Though there's also the idea of a shop window, and national identity. Do your countrymen proud.
Possible just the pressure to perform well which has been inflicted by pushy parents even.

But is it inevitable? I don't believe all top athletes are on drugs.

[Asian]

"Sport is all about winning and this means that sportspersons will inevitably turn to drugs to improve performance"

Think you have to expand the statement and describe the level of competition that the athelete is in and in turn (in a lot of instances and disciplines) the higher the level, the bigger the sponsorship recieved and more often than not required to continue at that level puts preasure on the athelite, the sponsors want results to recuperate their investment and get the coverage (and that's important, at what level and in what kinds of media is the coverage) and put a lot of preasure on the athelete to produce results and in my personal opinion (I have no experience or evidence to back this up) which may drive the cringes to utilise enhancement drugs to get the results and continue the sponsorship!

But then again I could be wrong!

[pyrat]

I take a lot of vitamin C.

[Mrs H.]

( and zinc for replenishing purposes )
some exercise can deplete your zinc resources.

your bragging now arn't you?

[Mr. Furness]

i am one of the people that believes in "its what you can achieve by yourself, naturally". like harry said. i think it is surely impossible these days to win in any sport with drugs. if it is an important event, or with money at stake, the winners are always drug tested. thats the best way- it means the winners can't be cheaters. (although i'm sure someone who knows more biology may be able to argue otherwise).

win at all costs is interesting, as some people who want to win at all costs will do so by training so well that they know they'll win. e.g. lance armstrong. i think athletes who will take drugs in order to win (including accepting the risk of being caught) are few and far between and clearly have no sense of moral values or acheivement.

my mate once said it would be cool to have sports where drugs where allowed, whatever you like- and see how fast people could go!

[Guest]

Did Channel 4 or the BBC not do a series or programme where they did that very thing of having atheletes that took drugs and stuff and saw how they performed compaired with non-drug taking athelets? Not sure but seem to remember this some time recently?

[gross2006]

Within the GB Team some years ago there was a fashionable phase of firstly taking large numbers of ibuprofen tablets to kill pain during the race & secondly taking upto 2 litres of flat cokacola for the caffine.... all within the rules but in my view within the grey area of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

Think there is this grey area - but only way forward is to stay fully within the rules..... orienteering has only suffered one drugs incident that I can remember... one Norwegian girl was stripped of her bronze medal at WOC 93 for taking a banned substance.... something she took by accident for a cold rather than any deliberate attempt to cheat... orienteering is a very clean sport... lets keep it that way

[Kitch]

If sport was all about winning then maybe it would be inevitable,

[Klebe]

Would all sportspeople turn to drugs?
I suspect that if the financial rewards were high enough - or even enough to give people comfortable living and financial security then inevitably greed would overshadow fairplay. Whether this would mean that 'everybody' would then resort to drugs is debateable. I would guess that a two tier system would develop where a 'professional' element of the sport would survive using drugs whilst an amateur parallel system could also flourish. (though this again could be tainted)
I guess that it is only the prescence of the drug testers that prevents many sportspeople from turning to drugs. Lets not forget though the likes of Paula Radcliffe who I would imagine, in no way would move into a drug fuelled sport.
If sports became so driven with drug enhanced performance, then the sport is likely to lose its public support at grass roots level. Eventually we would have a minority showpiece event (with possibly high popularity and sponsorship) but without mass participation elsewhere.