Drugs in Sport

Sport is so much a part of daily life for so many Australians. An Australian child is brought up to idolise their sporting heroes and to pursue the sport itself. It is devastating to think that maybe our sporting heroes are cheats. Today students are being pressured to perform at higher levels to make the first team, representative side or a sporting scholarship at a Greater Public Schools (GPS) which then could lead to the opportunity to make a break into the professional sporting teams. With the increase of drug use young players start thinking that taking performance enhancing drugs is necessary to ‘make it’. The competition in sports is so fierce it amounts to a huge build up on players and teams to perform, including the pressure from big business asking for ‘more’ because the more the players can give and entertain crowds means that demand for the game will rise which in turn means more money at the gates. The power and influence of Australian sport can be seen in its net worth “Sport in Australia generated a net income of $8.8 billion in 2004/2005”. The organisations that are running ‘Game Day’ have only one objective and that is to keep the broadcaster and punters happy and paying money, if this happens the businesses are happy. This is a vicious cycle for agencies who are trying to stop drug doping in sport, because businesses are so money hungry they feel no need to invest in the athletes welfare. More testing needs to be implemented for GPS athletes and they need to be educated that you can still be the best without cheating. Currently no Anti-doping policy exists in Toowoomba Grammar or the GPS schools, the purpose of this document is to outline the need for an Anti-doping policy and make some practical suggestions.
Within the last year the Australian Crime Commission has had some major findings involving the use of prohibited substances such a peptides, growth hormones, and illicit drugs, they now know that these drugs are wide spread throughout