Drug Testing In Sports

Today's athletes continue to push the boundaries of excellence in performance and physical fitness. Helping them are refined training methods and technologies. Never have athletes had more training aids at their disposal. Twenty years ago, drug testing in sport was in its beginning stages. Now, it is complex and in constant change. Keeping sport clean has become a never-ending race between drug testers and those who choose to cheat. And as much as the quest for the podium or championship should be the big news, often negative reports about positive drug tests end up overshadowing competitors' accomplishments.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs is nothing new; in fact, the international anxiety about drug use began in the 1950’s. At
Nowadays athletes are willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to be the best at what they do, or ensure themselves a spot on the team. Even Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter, who lost his gold medal for the 100-meter sprint said this: “You can never clean it up. People are always going to be doing something. They feel good about themselves, and they feel it’s right to do it.”(ESPN). Maybe it is not because athletes are lacking in character or intelligence. Maybe they are just willing to do whatever it takes to be the best, and tougher rules and increased testing have not and will probably not be a very effective deterrent. “As long as athletes accept without question or qualification the norms of the sport ethic, they will voluntarily try or take anything to remain in sports. Moral panics over drug use and over-simplified solutions will not make athletes stop using substances they see as essential in maintaining their identities and their experience of participation.”(Coakler, 188). This makes it tough to gain control of drug use. When and only when the people associated with sports genuinely want to make the effort to rid sports of drug use, will there be some movement away from drugs in sports. A movement to encourage athletes to think of others before themselves, realize how many lives they touch just by being an athlete, whether they be a professional or play in high school. Being a
Not only is it a major form of deviance, it is also a very hard problem to solve. There is no one right or wrong solution, no given way to ensure that drugs will be abolished within the realm of sports. Regardless of how difficult a task it may be to rid sports of drugs, I think as Christians, God calls us to set the standard and to be the example to everyone else. We may try as hard as we can to change or get rid of the sin, and we may fail. But that does not mean that we are to give in and give up. We should still be setting the example of living a life that is pleasing to God, which I think we would all agree, does not involve the use of drugs. While we do our best to keep ourselves pure, I think we should also be doing our best to be encouraging and set a good example for those around us, helping as many as we can to abstain from the use of drugs in