not specifically bonds, but when i searched for "sports doping", i though bonds was a good fit.
the first article (1 of 2)i thought i'd share an article i read in Triathlete magazine (January issue 2008). it has a couple entries on doping in [endurance] sports. it is a long(er) read, but the gist is this: "given the logistical and financial pressures of rigorous drug-testing protocols, is it time to give up a losing battle (and create a level playing field) by abandoning doping enforcement in sport?"
Bust the Cheaters by Cameron Elford
the next article (below)“Winners don’t do drugs.” If ever there were a more anemic and vacuous turn of phrase I’m powerless to recall what it may be (although “Can’t we all just get along” runs a close second). Still, putting aside for the moment the medical and ethical implications of doping, athletes who achieve chemically enhanced greatness- regardless of whether they ever get caught- are subject to a character flaw that permits them to conflate race results with personal pr professional success.
To wit, regardless of the number of victories they notch, can a doper ever claim having been successful, either in terms of personal accomplishment or by way of bettering the sport? It’s for this reason that many pro athletes ultimately make the decision to come clean, as did 1996 Tour de freedom France champion Bjarne Riis, even if the admission is only made once the athlete is safely beyond the reach of sanctions. In Riis’s case, his doping mea culpa came after nearly a decade of retirement from pro cycling, but at least he set the record straight.
Now, Brad may claim that current testing protocols are ineffectual and fail to level the playing field since many more athletes dope than are caught, creating a prisoners’ dilemma of sorts for those who want to race clean but fear they will be at a disadvantage by doing so.
Yes, I agree this is problematic, but it’s hardly a convincing justification for deciding to not catch anybody. Even if drug testing in sport were suspended or eliminated it would not level the playing field as there are athletes who, guided either by health concerns or an internal sense of fair play, who would shun the needle – an act that would, deservedly or undeservedly, place a virtual asterisk next to ever top performance, driving away fans and sponsors who, whether out of disgust or just increasing ambivalence, would likely stop caring and, in the case of the corporate backers that bankroll pro sport, run away from the negative implications of a brand association with a sport that tacitly endorses doping by ignoring the problem.
Finally, there’s a medical question. There are pundits who, in the case of recombinant EPO abuse for instance, argue that WADA and the individual governing bodies for each sport should maintain an upper limit on hematorcrit levels (the number of red blood cells in a given volume of blood, set by WADA at 50 percent) but then ignore how athletes hit this upper mark, whether through altitude training, good genes or drugs.
But in such an argument is as dangerous as it is foolish. Surely there are enough people left who feel that sport should remain on some level a game of chance with top results accruing through hard work and patience rather than from synthetic enhancement. Additionally, the range of naturally occurring hematopcrit levels caries from person to person (between 32-43 percent on average), and grossly exceeding one’s natural range can dangerously boost the blood’s viscosity leading to heart failure or stroke (Google “EPO death” if you aren’t convinced).
Setting aside drug testing is simply not where we want to go as a sport, and those who argue otherwise simply don’t understand what’s at stake. And should their nonsensical policy ever gain mainstream acceptance, it will put both the athletes and sport as a while on life support.
Just Say “Hell Yes” to Drugs by Brad Culp
info and articles are credited to [above] authors and Triathlete magazineOkay, before you get all worked up, let me start by saying I’ve never done a drug in my life. There are two reasons for my abstinence from performance enhancing drugs:
(1) I’m not a doctor. I don’t trust myself to administer anything beyond Bengay and aspirin.
(2) I can’t afford drugs. I can barely afford Bengay and aspirin. How the hell would I finance a regimen of EPO?
There’s no doubt that illegal drugs are destroying endurance sports,. What’s the solution? Instead of eliminating the drug, eliminate the “illegal” tag.
I know, by now your face is turning red and you’ve begun to type a letter to the editor asking for my resignation. Don’t bother. He’s the one who put me up to this.
Think about it. The better testing procedures become, the better athletes become at thwarting positive tests. There’s always going to be someone cheating. Hell, I bet there are dudes on the Olympic Curling Team who have more amphetamines pumping through their systems than some of the best cyclists. As long as there’s money and fame involved, someone is going to do whatever it takes to be on top.
More importantly, the main concern of every sport’s governing body should be the health and safety of its athletes. The safest thing for athletes to do is adhere to the “Just say no” motto, but we all know that’s just not going to happen. Most athletes have less medical background than yours truly, but that hasn’t stopped them from self-administering questionable drugs from South American farmacias in the past. If drugs like EPO and testosterone were removed from WADA’s list of banned substances and regulated then athletes wouldn’t have to worry about overdosing and having their heart rates drop to 13 beats per minute while they sleep.
The only way to truly level the playing field in triathlon, and other sports, is to just give up the fight. The bad press that comes from doping incidents has already killed cycling, it’s killing baseball and it will kill triathlon. If this sport goes down, then I’m out of a job. Then it’s back to flipping burgers at In-N-Out Burger. Or, I could get on some pharmaceuticals and climb my way to the top of the world table-tennis circuit.