Sports and Medicine: Drug Testing Athletes
In today’s society, athletes are becoming celebrities in their own right. A lot of publicity are given to them and they are offered sky-high salaries if they truly excel in their respective field other than that they manage to get millions of dollars in product endorsements. There is a significant incentive for them to perform on peak performance perhaps that is why some resort to short cuts and take drugs to enhance their athletic abilities. This is why drug testing athletes are necessary in most international sports federation.
Drug testing athletes is required even in various levels, from collegiate to Olympic athletes. Drug tests are conducted to identify if the athletes are taking performance-enhancing drugs and how far have they abused their body by taking these drugs. Drug testing results are so rigid and strict that anyone found violating the policy is not allowed joining the competition.
Submission of urine specimen is required especially when drug testing athletes. Sometimes a urine sample is not enough to detect other substance abuse, others are required to surrender a blood specimen. Though it seems like a very simple procedure, this process must be highly regulated and formally executed because if it results to a false positive an not only the athlete will suffer from its repercussions but also the sports federation.
An athlete may lost his place, medal or accolades and even endorsements if found positive then after an appeal, it turns out that the specimen has been tampered. Strict protocols are being implemented to avoid tampering of the specimen during handling and delivering.
Unluckily, there are still some athletes in all levels of sports competition who continues to use performance-enhancing drugs even if they are aware that it will jeopardize their careers and health. One of the infamous violator is Ben Johnson whose bulging muscles, and yellow tinged eyes broke the 100 meter record in the 1988 Olympics only to be disqualified and never to be heard off again.
Drug testing athletes is crucial because it can preserve the integrity of sportsmanship by prohibiting drug use.
Drug abuse will be prevented if there is constant and random test being conducted. Drug testing athletes should be implemented always to avoid unfair competition.
Finally it can also save the health of athletes give them a better quality of life after their competitive days.
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