With the Rio 2016 Olympics staring this week, I have seen many things online such as the doping scandals and it really grabbed my attention. I feel so dissatisfied to hear what is happening today, but knew sooner or later it would happen. I remember when I was a kid, I had no idea people even did this because my young mind couldn’t wrap around that factor. In the Rio Olympics of 2016, people have already been ejected or disqualified for not passing testing to see if they weren’t on a substance to increase their chance of winning.
1. Substances athletes used
In today's world, there are many different substances athletes are not allowed to use due to the fact it could have an impact on the result of the game which makes it unfair to others who are not using that substance. One of the substances is peptide hormones. This substance increases bulk, strength and oxygen carrying red blood cells. You wouldn’t think you would find hormones in substance form, but in today's world it is crazy how much scientist can do. This type of doping has disqualified many Olympic athletes in the past. Another big one would be anabolic steroids. Steroids build more muscle and produce testosterone. Believe it or not, anabolic steroids are given to patients with cancer and AIDS to help them have an apatite and produce red blood cells. These are only two of the many substances that athletes have used while doping.
2. Why do athletes dope?
There are many different reasons why athletes dope in today's Olympics. The first for some might be to win because when competing in such high level sports the difference could be so slim. If you think if one Olympic swimmer's time is 15 seconds and another is 15.2, you could see why the second might dope to increase his or her chances of winning.
Another reason is money: When it comes to the Olympic games there is an insane amount of money spent and on the line for these athletes. In the "Last Week Tonight" show, John Oliver reported NBC has surpassed the $1 billion amount in advertising. If this much money is being used to advertise these games, I couldn’t imagine how much an athlete gets paid if they win the event.
3. Can countries test their athletes?
Yes, in fact many countries do test their athletes and there is certain scanning in place so athletes can be tested. However, in an unhealthy country they might not have the funds to pay for such a thing or might not even have the desire to do it.
4. What is WADA?
WADA is the World Anti-Doping Agency and foresees all of the athletes who compete in the Olympics. Since the Russian Scandal in the 2012 Olympics, there were many things that seemed foggy to some people that WADA just passed by. With this being said many people think, “well how come they just don’t allow doping” and the reason is because it would take away from the point of sports and potentially make clean athletes start to dope and can be dangerous at times. That is never right.
5. Has anyone been caught doping before?
In the 2012 Olympic games, Alicia Montana lost to Maria Savinova and was under a lot of heat because of a suspected doping scandal. There comes a certain time in peoples’ careers where they ask how some things are possible, especially in sports. When you are a world class athlete leading the race you don’t think you will be beat, but only by someone who has doped.
Doping is found in many different countries and should be stopped.
