Doping in Sports - Why?

We’ve all seen the headlines and heard the allegations – Marion Jones, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis…the list goes on. The real question is whether the issue of doping is societal or psychological? One could argue both, but we look at the societal factors in play here.

The world is becoming ever-growing and fast-paced. We are taught that in order to keep up with others, we must be competitive. We must work extremely hard to reach the top and continue to perform at high levels to ensure we remain there.

“Speak up or you won’t be heard”

“Be all you can be”

”Get a degree so you will get a better job”

“Get another degree so you get an even better job”

“Work hard for that next promotion”

“Give a 110%”

These are the values engrained in us by society, starting with our parents. Eventually the media takes over and begins forming our thoughts and beliefs on what it is to be successful. The media is reflecting what is believed by our society that in order to be great, we must give everything we have. We must sacrifice. If you work hard enough at anything – you will succeed. Our society defines success in many ways, but is mostly measured through money and status.

So what happens when you are a professional athlete? You trained at 110%, made your sacrifices, worked harder than everyone else, but it isn’t good enough anymore. Perhaps you are coming of age and cannot keep up with the younger, faster and stronger athletes. Perhaps your performance is not opening greater opportunities financially. Perhaps for a moment in time, your intense desire to be “great” outweighs the consequence that may ensue. Whatever the reason may be, professional athletes feel the pressure to become bigger, better, stronger and more productive in their careers. Our society has become enthralled with the successes and failures of its professional athletes. Our society has also placed a great significance on monetary gains and elite status – both of which are synonymous with successful professional athletes. In the end, the athletes themselves must make the ultimate decision to dope or not to dope. Psychological factors definitely play a huge role in why some do and others do not. However, we cannot ignore the fact that our society is driven off certain images of success. Professional athletes have an enormous amount of pressure to succeed in the short time they are active. A professional athlete’s income is much like a bell curve - where the bulk of income is generated in the middle of their career when their performance level is at its peak. Once age and novelty begin to wear, their value as a player and role model in our society decreases as well. They become expendable to organizations and sponsors which add to the overall pressure to succeed. Some would say – “Well that poor professional athlete, life must be so hard being rich and famous.” True enough, there is no excuse for cheating. However, we cannot ignore the outside factors playing a significant role in the issue.