“With doping you can have everything but in the end you are left with nothing” This is a quote by retired cyclist and Tour de France rider Thomas Dekker”. Thomas recently admitted to doping for much of his career.
Doping is defined as a method or substance that is used to gain an unfair advantage in sports. It can have lots of advantages but doping can also take away everything you have gained when you are caught cheating. Even worse, you can end up with potentially deadly health problems.
There are 4 major types of doping. Anabolic steroids, diuretics, stimulants and blood doping assistants such as EPO. They all help in different ways. Anabolic steroids help build muscle mass faster and that is good for sports like football, boxing, bodybuilding and any other types of sports that rely on strength. Abusing anabolic steroids can lead to liver tumors, cancer and a lot of other diseases.
Diuretics help decrease your body weight which can help enhance performance in a number of endurance based sports like cycling and running. Diuretics can also help body builders and boxers trim unwanted fat before important competitions. Side effects of diuretic abuse are severe dehydration and even gout.
Stimulants help keep you awake and alert when you are tired or when you want to recover faster to do the next set in your work out. Stimulants benefit in sports like soccer, baseball, hockey, swimming, cycling and football. Stimulants also have serious side effects like heart attacks and other deadly diseases. Stimulants have been used since the early 1900’s across all sports and have led to a number of high profile deaths.
Blood doping assistants like EPO help a lot in sports like swimming, cycling, running, soccer and football because they help you when you are out of breath. Blood doping products help your oxygen carrying capacity which allows you to go much harder and longer than you normally could. Blood doping has very serious side effects and if you take too much EPO your heart will stop pumping because your blood is too thick.
A great example of how doping leaves you with nothing is the story of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson won a bronze medal in the 100 meter dash at the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Four years later at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea he won the gold medal. After the race Ben tested positive for anabolic steroids and was stripped of his gold medal. He left Korea in shame and he embarrassed his country, his family and his sport. Everything he had worked his entire life for was gone in an instant.
Doping has harmed a lot of people over the years. Hopefully sport is headed in a better direction but there will always be some athletes that will make the wrong choices. What choices will you make? Will you take the easy path if it presents itself? Are you going to be the next FAKE CHAMPION?...or will you choose to be dope free?! DOPING SUCKS!!!
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