Doping in Sport

by Oliver Jameson

If your friend took their notes into a GCSE and got caught then they would get nothing. If you don't pay taxes then the amount goes up. So why are sports people allowed to cheat and only receive a small fine or ban in return for potentially ruining a sports reputation.

A prime example should Lance Armstrong who took performance enhancing drugs in order to dominate and win 7 Tour de France title. He eventually banned from participating in sport but the sport of cycling had to endure very tough tests to prove the integrity of the sport and to this day the cycling image is still marred by his actions. Throughout his career he was always facing doping allegations however it only took until 2006 for an official inquiry to take place and it took 6 years for the charges to come through and they found evidence dating back to 1996.

If the first sign had been investigated and the previous punishments had been harsher then it would have discouraged and meant that Armstrongs negative image wouldn’t have dominated the view of all types of cycling to this day.

Cheating can also cause rapid decline in a teams performance and the particular teams relationship with others. One example would be the Pakistan cricket captain salaman butt instructed two of his bowler to bowl no-balls at certain times in return for money from someone who had placed bets on them bowling no-balls at certain times. This disgraceful act took the spirit of sport completely away and their actions threw shadows over the team and their relationship with the other governing bodies. Butt was initially banned for ten years. Ten years for destroying the integrity of his country, for taking the competitive nature of international sport and using it for financial gain. One of the bowlers Amir was handed a measly 5 year ban and he made his return to the sport and even after disgracing his country he was allowed a second chance to perform on the biggest stage again and is currently in the running to be selected to play in the ODI World Cup this summer. Their combined actions also broke down the trust between the ECB and PCB with the rest of the test series between them being played in somber conditions and barely any fans wanted to come and support a teams that didn’t have winning and competing fairly at the core of their values

These actions aren’t just limited to these two sport. Even the biggest sport like football are susceptible to handing out insufficient bans that aren’t anywhere near big enough. Three times in his career luis Suarez has bitten an opponent. The first was while playing for Ajax and he only received a 7 match ban. After a transfer to Liverpool he then bit Chelsea defender Ivanovic on the shoulder and the review then imposed a 10 match ban on him. Both these disgraceful acts would have been classed as assault anywhere outside of the stadiums and my question is why does he get away with it. He has walked away and missed 17 matches rather than having to serve a potential prison sentence. These bans obviously didn’t do anything to stop him as he repeated his actions while playing for Uruguay against Italy in the twenty fourteen fifa World Cup and was only banned for 9 international matches. The inability to properly punish Suarez has allowed him to continuing to have an illustrious career despite committing three disgusting crimes during matches in his career.

Overall the affect of people like these on different sports greatly outweighs the sanctions imposed on them and therefore are we happy for cheats and disrespectful people to ruin events with their unbelievable selfishness.