Do you think using AAS in sports is cheating?

[tubob]

In athletics , cycling etc ....eh mmm yeah i suppose so. In bodybuilding no i dont think so

 

[GreekGod]

Do you think using AAS in sports is cheating?

This is too complex an issue to be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'.

Every professional athlete knows that he has to use steroids to catch up with his competitors, since they also use them. So if everybody does the same thing then the best of them is still going to win, and so the game is fair. But this naive scenario has some serious flaws :

1. Athletes from poorer countries don't have access to the sophisticated, custom made, undetectable designer steroids that athletes from richer countries are taking. So not everybody is doing the same thing.
2. Athletes from richer countries are treated MUCH differently in regards to the doping controls than athletes from poorer countries. For example in the Olympic Games that took place this summer in Athens, Greece, IOC drug testers tried to get the U.S. sprinter Maurice Green to take a test but they were (illegally) not allowed to enter his hotel, with the excuse of 'security issues'. Mysteriously this received very little publicity by the international media. But they did catch the greek sprinter Konstantinos Kenteris, who by the way had beaten Maurice Green in Sydney four years ago. No doubt both of them were full of steroids in the Athens games. But they weren't treated the same way.
3. It's not fair to the public that it's not told the truth. The people should know that each and every professional athlete is taking truckloads of performance enhancing drugs, be it steroids, growth hormone, erythropoietin, diuretics etc.

 

[CleanMan]

This is too complex an issue to be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'.
3. It's not fair to the public that it's not told the truth. The people should know that each and every professional athlete is taking truckloads of performance enhancing drugs, be it steroids, growth hormone, erythropoietin, diuretics etc.

Sorry GreekGod but this statement is simply not true. I am a professional athlete and I have never ever taken a preformance enhancing drug, (and before people get picky, you've pick the wrong person cause I have never even had coffee, seriously).
You may think I am talking shit, but why would I lie? No one knows who I am here so I have nothing to prove (although many would if I mentioned my real name).
I am not against the use of AAS for individuals who what to improve their looks etc and I have many mates on juice and I have no problem with their discission.
I don't like how sporting bodies have influenced the laws to the extent that many drugs that can assist people to live more forefilling lives (whether that be through overall wellbeing or improved self esteme) are banned.

However if you take preformance enhancing drugs that are banned in your particular sport then by definition you are cheating.
I certainly know other professionals in my sport that are not using banned drugs and I know others that are (however in Oz we have a tradition of not dobing in our mates).

I would certainly agree there is alot of misinformation about the dangers of certain drugs throughout society. Just that there are many athletes on this forum who are taking drugs, well, well before they have reached their potential naturally.
I personally don't take drugs cause I enjoy the hard work and the journey to get there, a saying from another sport I like "mountaineering isn't about getting to the top, it's about mountaineering"

Cheers
CleanMan.

 

[RussianRocket]

Good discussion. I'm going to be talking about this in my ethics class soon, I'd like to hear more opinions.

 

[wootoom]

for sure it is

 

[Deleted member 33117]

This is such a grey area that its rediculous... one could just as easily argue that lifting weights is cheating... the real dilema is that

1) they are against the rules in most sports, which would imply cheating...

2) Everyone is using them, so you can't be competative without them... so its: cheat or you can't play... which makes not really cheating..

Fuck it I know.

 

[lawnsaver]

By definition, it is cheating!

The bottom line though, especially in baseball, you still have to hit the ball. I mean just because someone who takes steroids doesnt make them more skilled.

Football, weight lifting, Etc...it is definately cheating.

 

[under]

where do you draw the line, cyclists have bikes worth tens of 1000s, the pole vaulters have poles worth 40, 50k. Is this cheating, I couldn't afford to start in most of these sports.

Ferrari can out spend every team in Formula 1.......

These days the will to win just isn't enough........

 

[Lowest]

Yeah, it's too hard to really give an answer with certainty. According to the rules, steroids are cheating. However, that's just to make the "playing field" level. But as mentioned, some countries don't have the money for 50K bikes, 1000dollar track shoes, millions per year in specialists and MD's to get the most out of the athletes. Plus, pretty much every major record for the past 40-50 years has been set by someone on steroids, so trying to break a record today without them would be basically impossible. If it is cheating, then the only people losing are those who aren't cheating.

 

[ManOfArms]

This is too complex an issue to be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'.

Every professional athlete knows that he has to use steroids to catch up with his competitors, since they also use them. So if everybody does the same thing then the best of them is still going to win, and so the game is fair. But this naive scenario has some serious flaws :

1. Athletes from poorer countries don't have access to the sophisticated, custom made, undetectable designer steroids that athletes from richer countries are taking. So not everybody is doing the same thing.
2. Athletes from richer countries are treated MUCH differently in regards to the doping controls than athletes from poorer countries. For example in the Olympic Games that took place this summer in Athens, Greece, IOC drug testers tried to get the U.S. sprinter Maurice Green to take a test but they were (illegally) not allowed to enter his hotel, with the excuse of 'security issues'. Mysteriously this received very little publicity by the international media. But they did catch the greek sprinter Konstantinos Kenteris, who by the way had beaten Maurice Green in Sydney four years ago. No doubt both of them were full of steroids in the Athens games. But they weren't treated the same way.
3. It's not fair to the public that it's not told the truth. The people should know that each and every professional athlete is taking truckloads of performance enhancing drugs, be it steroids, growth hormone, erythropoietin, diuretics etc.

It's not that complicated, and this is the way I look at it. In a sport which does not allow the competitors to use Steroids, in my opinion, it's cheating. I just don’t understand why it’s so difficult to see this.

I don’t know anything about competitive cycling or as to the modifications allowed by the sport, but I bet AAS is not one of them. I believe that's cheating.