Doping in Sport and the AFL Policy on Drugs - Free Essay Example

?Drugs in sport What is it? Drug’s in sport or doping is when an athlete takes performance enhancing drugs or any banned substance. The sports that have the most trouble with drugs are Weightlifting, cycling, badminton, boxing, track and field. These athletes take drugs so they can be the best in there sport. One of the most recent cases was American sprinter Marion Jones who won five gold medals in the 2000 Olympics at Sydney, since then she has been stripped of all her medals after admitting that she took performance enhancing drugs in 2007. She had lied in front of two judges saying that she never had taken steroids. Another case was Australian Cricket hero Shane Warne who was banned for a year after taking diuretics. Another one was former West Coast Eagle champion, brownlow medallist, and premiership player Ben cousins who was banned from playing football for taking cocaine and other banned substance. What is a drug? A drug is a substance (other than food) that when taken into the body, produces a change in it. If this change helps the body it is referred to as a medicine. If this change harms the body, it is referred to as a poison. I think drugs in sport is terrible because these are highly paid professionals who are role models to so many kids and they are taking drugs to make them better at there chosen sport. These athletes are respected by there country and in my opinioni should never be allowed to compete in there sport again. Some reasons an athlete might use drugs are the effects of the drug, physical dependence, easily available or they might be dissatisfied with there performance or progress, the environment, pressure to win from coach, parent, media, public, financial reward, unrealistic qualifying standards or performance expectation. This is a list of some prohibited substances and doping methods: ? Stimulants ? Anabolic agent ? Non-steroidal ? Diuretic Many different sports have different policies on drugs. The AFL policy has been under a lot of scrutiny lately. The policy is as follows First positive test: Players enter treatment/education program coordinated by an AFL medical officer. The result is confidential to those involved in the treatment. Second positive test: Dealt with by and AFL medical officer with a view to further educating, counselling and treating the player. Third positive test: Player is deemed to have breeched an AFL rule and will face the tribunal if found guilty player may be suspended between 0-12 matches Fourth Positive test: Player will face tribunal and be suspended for no less than 6 weeks. I think this policy is way to easy on the players because they have so many chances. I think the player should have one chance and then be kicked out of the AFL for at least a year.