Research Paper on Steroids in Sports - Essay Example

Needless to say, there is tremendous ground breaking pressure on athletes and sports representatives to make sure they bring home the gold; otherwise they might have to suffer dire consequences. With all the stakes that are involved, it is only prudent from the athlete’s point of view to make sure that they are the best in their competitive lot by hook or by crook. This is where the abuse of medicine to enhance their performance comes in; with evidently positive intentions, sports are now infiltrated with infamous scandals relating to doping and usage of steroids to enhance performance.

The essay primarily discusses a brief history of the usage of steroids in sports, followed by an analysis of the reasons for the increase and the repercussions that athletes face after failing the test. This essay also analyzes if the repercussions are barring the use of steroids or if there is a need of a stricter policy to ensure that steroids are not abused in sports. Steroids: Steroids are similar to certain hormones present in our body and they act like those hormones and sometimes are introduced artificially in our body.

The body in itself is able to produce this hormone to fight stress and helps in promoting growth and development. Therefore, they are a very important part of human body. Introduction of these hormones in the human body will help in increasing the development and stamina of athletes. Especially when people are injured, steroids can help in increase the speed of growth and development of the human body. Therefore, they are a complete hit in the sports arena and are allegedly used by athletes to increase man power and stamina to endure the immense physical strain they put their body through.

History: One of the first cases of the usage of steroids in sports was reported in 1954. The Soviets, in the World Weightlifting championship, dominated more than anybody and it was revealed that they were given testosterone injections to enhance their sports performance. However, enhancements had been tried before too; citations go back to Greece. It has been observed that athletes have taken extreme measures and followed stringent regimes in order to increase their physical efficiency and fitness nearing a tournament.

Although, one might not want to judge the motives behind this action of theirs, it has been observed that more and more corruption came into sports are the financial stakes of the tournaments were increased. The more the prize money was, the more there was a chance for the athletes to experiment with medicine. Therefore, many athletes from as far as Greek times have been known to take extreme measures like eating meat for months before a tournament, in order to increase the presence of testosterone in their body.

The story is not very different today; it might actually feel pretty similar to many of us. We are bombarded with dope tests and other kinds of drug tests that are found negative in players from all kinds of sports, from all over the world. The stakes are so high that even after extreme punishments, sportsmen and sportswomen still find the idea of pushing their body to a new level artificially through medicine. Steroids in High School Sports: The use of drugs that enhance physical capabilities is not only restricted to international sports.

At the high school level sports, this problem is increasing, or so is quoted by the