What ethical issues are related to improving performance?

Activity 2: Read and summarise notes

The Dangers of Performance Enhancing Drugs

Using drugs to enhance performance may seem appealing to athletes in the short-term, however, there are long-term consequences and repercussions, which will affect the athlete regardless of whether they are caught.

Physical effects

The use of illicit substances can lead to a number of serious physical and mental health issues including cancer, heart problems, stress anxiety and depression.

Loss of Reputation

Winners earn more than just a gold medal in the twenty-first century; elite athletes receive financial rewards, fame and sponsorship. Consequently, some athletes develop the mentality of ‘winning at all costs.

If an athlete adopts this attitude and relies on drug use and other unethical means to ensure their success, it can lead to a potential loss of reputation for the athlete, the sport and the country they represent. Just recently the Russian Athletic Team was banned from the 2016 Olympic Games due to systematic drug use amongst athletes. The consequences of doping in this instance negatively impacted both athletes who were doping and those who were not. Russia and Russian sporting bodies also received extensive criticism and judgment from other countries as a result of the scandal, which tarnished the perception of all athletes representing Russia in Rio.

The loss of reputation can involve a loss of respect amongst peers, spectators, and any young people who consider that particular athlete a role model. The media may also capitalise on the situation, vilifying athletes who participate in drug use as a way of selling news.

Athletes who are caught may also suffer prolonged and long-term emotional and psychological stress from the fallout of their actions and subsequent loss of reputation.

Loss of Sponsorship and Income

Athletes are often lured into using performance-enhancing drugs by the promise of financial reward. There are millions of dollars every year invested into the sport by sponsors, governments, and supporters. Athletes often have short careers compared to other professionals, due to the physical nature of what they do, therefore money and financial stability can be extremely appealing.

It is important for athletes to remember that being caught using performance-enhancing drugs can tarnish the sport. It can lead to a withdrawal of sponsorship and funding for the sport and athletes can lose their income impacting their livelihood. Receiving a ban from the sport and losing sponsorship can mean that an athlete will have to change or end their sporting career. This can have a sustained negative impact on mental and physical wellbeing.

Reference: Improving pdhpe

Activity 3: Complete the past HSC question and submit via classroom

Outline the negative consequences of performance-enhancing drug use (4 marks)

The answer could include:

• potential loss of reputation among family, peers, supporters and the community

• possible loss of professional contracts, government funding or corporate sponsorship

• bans from participating

• personal doubts over the legitimacy of the athletes achievements

• many health risks such as heart disease, liver damage, blood clotting, stroke etc

Activity 4: 

• Read the attached article relating to the Tokyo Games and access the Doping Control site and watch the short clip on Olympic testing procedures.

• Below are other short clips relating to past Olympics and drug cheats.

Anabolic steroids cause the body to develop greater muscle size and bone mass. The substance encourages muscle and cells within the body’s skeletal system to produce new protein.

Like HGH, this form of steroid is used to increase size and weight, strength and power and will be appealing to sprinters, rugby players and individuals who participate in other high intensity sports.

Steroids enable the athlete to recover faster from a workout so they may get back in and train again. Consequently, athletes can improve their performance over a shorter period of time; they are able to train longer or more often without worrying about fatigue.

Use of Anabolic Steroids can lead to a number of serious and negative side effects ranging from mood swings and aggression to infertility and the development of liver and cardiovascular disease. In males, excessive use can result in testicular atrophy, baldness, breast development and sexual dysfunction function. Females may develop physical, male characteristics such as the interruption of their menstrual cycle and thickening of the vocal cords.

Diuretics are used by athletes to hide the use of other drugs. These substances can change the chemical make up in urine increasing the likelihood that the presence of prohibited substances will go unnoticed. As a result, the use of diuretics is banned.

Diuretics

Diuretics are used to increase the amount of fluid moving and passing through the body. They are commonly used by athletes to mask the use of performance enhancing drugs or to lose weight quickly. Athletes who compete in sports that require them to perform at a certain weight level such as boxing, weight lifting or horse riding (jockey) may use diuretics to control their weight. As a masking agent, diuretics dilute the urine making it difficult for testers to detect the use of other substances.

The side effects of using diuretics include dizziness, cramps, kidney failure and dehydration.

Alcohol

While alcohol is considered a diuretic, it is not considered a performance enhancing drug. As a depressant, drinking actually has a negative effect on performance. Some athletes may still be tempted to use this as a diuretic as it dilutes the urine.

Benefits and Limitations of Drug Testing

The aim of drug testing is to ensure that athletes compete on an equal and equitable playing field. The rights of athletes are protected and represented by creating a clean sporting environment. The fact that drug testing is performed regularly and constantly serves as a deterrent for drug use to most athletes.

While it is positive that organisations like WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency) commit time and effort into research and testing, the high costs of anti-doping test mean that they can’t test as many athletes as they would like to.

Testing is also reactive, meaning that it one step behind in terms of the drugs being used. Additional performance enhancing drugs and techniques are constantly being created and it is difficult for testing agencies to predict and keep up with new developments. As a result, organisations must conduct steady research and find innovative ways to identify newly created drugs to ensure they can test for all substances.

Drug testing can be confronting for some athletes, especially people who are new to the process, as it involves the removal of all clothing in front of a tester, who must then watch watched as they urinate into a sample cup.

While there are benefits and limitations to drug testing there is some debate as to whether the process is effective or not. Some critics claim that drug testing is an invasion of privacy, too costly to maintain and that anti-doping policies are inconsistent between sports. For example, an Olympic sprinter caught using an anabolic steroid will incur a two year ban from the sport, compared to the recent peptide scandal in rugby league which saw the athletes back on the field following the off-season break.

The counter-argument for continued drug testing is that that it promotes and provides the best possible environment for an even playing field. It makes athletes more accountable for their health and supports the ideal that good sportsmanship and doping are incompatible.

Work through the following Activities 1-4

Activity 1 - Reading 

Activity 2 - Notes

Activity 3 - Inquiry

Activity 2: Read and summarise the following notes

Use of Technology

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of technology in sport. Improvements and innovation in sport facilities and equipment are just a couple of ways that technology has been utilised in training and fitness.

What needs to be questioned is whether these changes impacting sport in a positive way? Or are the talents, perseverance, hard work and human ability of athletes and coaches being replaced by technology and money?

Training Innovation    (Examples in Australian sport) (Technology in Rugby League) (Netball GPS) Add your own in here 

Advances in technology have led to many innovations in the field of athletic and strength training.

The use of synthetic pitches

There have been a number of state of the art synthetic fields (for soccer) popping up around Sydney. These pitches allow athletes to train and compete in various weather conditions.

Drop in Pitches

Cricket grounds all over Australia now use drop in pitches so that they can utilise the field all year round. During the winter months they replace the cricket square with normal turf to protect the pitch from AFL or rugby league games. When summer hits, they replace the turf with the cricket square.

Biomechanical Analysis

The introduction of video analysis has made it easier to study athletic movement. The use of photographic equipment is another method that is used to great effect. These methods make use of slow motion cameras allowing movement to be explored in more specific detailwhile also increasing opportunities to recognise faults in athletic technique and rectify them.

Clothing

Compression garments are designed to increase aerodynamics, buoyancy and water resistance.

Testing procedures

The introduction of wind tunnels, hyperbaric chambers, sprint gates not only allows for more efficient testing of fitness requirements, they also aid athletes who are recovering from injury.

Lactate Threshold Training *this is old now but so in the syllabus

This is an advanced training method that measures an athlete’s lactate levels throughout the training session to gain more of an accurate reading of whether an athlete is training in certain heart rate zones. It also accurately measures recovery levels as well. By providing a drop of blood, usually by pricking their fingertips, a precise reading can be determined. The reason why athletes test this is that they want to train as close to their lactate threshold as possible. This is because by determining where their lactate threshold is, an athlete can design and manipulate their training to work close to their lactate threshold and over time, the athlete may increase their threshold level.

Equipment Advances        

Swimsuits

The introduction and development of a new, technologically advanced swimsuit caused great controversy in 2008. The Speedo LZR swimsuit was seen as contributing factor to every world record that was broken throughout that year. It’s sleek, hydrodynamic design allowed for minimal drag and resistance, increasing speed, whilst the corset-like fit helped wearers to maintain the best possible posture and style when swimming.

In an article posted in The Guardian, a journalist commented that, “since March, the LZR Racer swimsuit has helped create 74 world records – by the time you finish reading this, it will probably be 75”.

The swimsuit caused controversy because it raised concerns about the role of technology in athletic events. Commenters at the time addressed the issue of whether technology had outgrown sport, pointing out that it was hard to determine where the line should be drawn between human and technological achievements.

Golf Balls

Although not as controversial as the Speedo LZR Swimsuit, the design of the golf ball designed has progressed to increase the distance, spin or feel. Manufacturers are now able to manipulate the size and amount of dimples on the golf ball to produce these different effects. This slight change in design affects turbulent air-flow around the ball, which manipulates how the ball travels through the air.

Elite golfers are skilled athletes who will carefully purchase equipment based on quality and the style of their game. The development of improved designs for golf balls means that golfers can now easily choose the style of ball best suited to the particular course or purpose.

Equipment advances in other sports include:

– Heart rate monitors, GPS devices, and treadmills for endurance athletes. AFL and rugby league players, in particular, are utilizing GPS tracking devices to monitor their performance on the field.

– Technology to improve the effectiveness of golf clubs, for example, by using graphite shafts for more flexibility.

– Carbon fibre bats, which are used in cricket for more power.

– The transition from old-style blocks to the slanted blocks used in swimming.

– Ice vests, which can cool the body down during hot, humid conditions

Add in your own hear from the articles 

Activity 4: Complete the following 2013 HSC question and submit for marking.

To what extent has the use of technology created unfair competition in sport (12 marks)