Cheating and Sportsmanship
Cheating and Sportsmanship
HPE essay-BY Elliott Biggs
Just like everything in life, sports too are governed by rules, customs and even competition. Sports are a way through which we are able to connect with our past and have good feelings about the future. Sports acts as a way of bonding people despite their age, gender and race differences. Sports today, instead of bonding people and teaching them discipline and teamwork is causing them to cheat. And athletes have a reason to cheat now with all the fame, drugs and endorsements available to gain from. Cheating in sports is certainly not something new; it has been taking place ever since sports and sporting competitions were first introduced. 2000 years before Mike Tyson bit a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear and due to it faced disqualification in the boxing match, a boxer from Thessaly, Eupolus’s had bribed 3 of his opponents to take dives in the Olympics of 388 BC (Los Angeles Times). Eupolus’s cheating is considered to have been the first cheating act to have been committed in sports. Everyone wants to win and wants an easy way to do it. The way people cheat in sports has become various and diversified over the years but I will discuss only three. Performance enhancing drugs, performance enhancing equipment and blood doping.
First, Performance enhancing drugs. The use of enhancement “substances” for sporting events dates back to the ancient Greeks and ancient Maya. Performance potions where utilized by the Greeks to increase their abilities, and cocoa leaves where thought to be used by the ancient Maya to increase their abilities. Today, athletes will go to many lengths to increase athletic ability, including: steroids, HGH, Amphetamines, and even animal or human organs just as the Greeks did in their time. Most young athletes will tell you that the competitive drive to win can be very intense. Besides the satisfaction of personal gain, young athletes often pursue dreams of making it to the Olympics or a
HPE essay-BY Elliott Biggs
Just like everything in life, sports too are governed by rules, customs and even competition. Sports are a way through which we are able to connect with our past and have good feelings about the future. Sports acts as a way of bonding people despite their age, gender and race differences. Sports today, instead of bonding people and teaching them discipline and teamwork is causing them to cheat. And athletes have a reason to cheat now with all the fame, drugs and endorsements available to gain from. Cheating in sports is certainly not something new; it has been taking place ever since sports and sporting competitions were first introduced. 2000 years before Mike Tyson bit a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear and due to it faced disqualification in the boxing match, a boxer from Thessaly, Eupolus’s had bribed 3 of his opponents to take dives in the Olympics of 388 BC (Los Angeles Times). Eupolus’s cheating is considered to have been the first cheating act to have been committed in sports. Everyone wants to win and wants an easy way to do it. The way people cheat in sports has become various and diversified over the years but I will discuss only three. Performance enhancing drugs, performance enhancing equipment and blood doping.
First, Performance enhancing drugs. The use of enhancement “substances” for sporting events dates back to the ancient Greeks and ancient Maya. Performance potions where utilized by the Greeks to increase their abilities, and cocoa leaves where thought to be used by the ancient Maya to increase their abilities. Today, athletes will go to many lengths to increase athletic ability, including: steroids, HGH, Amphetamines, and even animal or human organs just as the Greeks did in their time. Most young athletes will tell you that the competitive drive to win can be very intense. Besides the satisfaction of personal gain, young athletes often pursue dreams of making it to the Olympics or a