Support Thesis 2

Support Thesis: The use of performance enhancing drugs is the current form of cheating in sports and this scientific form of cheating can evolve into a cybernetic form in the future.

Lead in: Steven Kolter a writer from Popular Science, a magazine that reports technology, science, gadgets, space and green tech addresses the early uses of drugs in sports.

“From Roman gladiators hopped up on herbal stimulants to distance runners downing brandy-and-strychnine cocktails (a combination that helped American Tom Hicks win the 1904 Olympic marathon)” (Kolter)

Commentary: Steven’s article excerpt verifies that cheating with drugs in sports has gone on since the beginning of sports itself. The earliest forms of drug use in sports were herbal stimulants which would increase the pain threshold of the gladiators and they would continue to fight instead of replying to the cuts and bruises given by opponents. This piece permits the public to gain an understanding and a baseline to present the uses of drugs used in the past which have evolved into a new form. The final evolution of performance enhancing drugs is the mix of biological redesigning drugs used today.

Lead In: David Potter a writer for the CNN website talks about the history of cheating in the Olympics. Potter states that the earliest form of cheating was performance suppression.

“Some forms of performance suppression were more effective than others. The most colorful was to place a curse on an athlete so he would not do his best (or the gods of the underworld would drive him mad). This often involved the burial of a lead tablet containing the curse in some place that mattered -- ancient racing venues have produced a fair number of these items” (Potter).

Commentary: David Potter states how cheating was done in the ancient times. Athletes during the time use suppression tactics to effect performance of athletes. He then gives an example of the most interesting way that athletes were subjected to performance suppression. His example shows the earliest forms of cheating which has escalated to the cheating of today of performance enhancing drugs.

Lead in: Duncan and David Ewing writers for the Neewsweek Global a popular magazine sold worldwide gives their opinion on the use of performance enhancing drugs and what they could ultimately lead to.  

“Some wondered if Vonn would have recovered more effectively if she had taken human growth hormone and steroids -- both banned by the International Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation. After all, research has suggested that these meds help injured athletes to better heal.

That leads to an intriguing question, one that has been playing out with Major League Baseball's steroid situation. What if fans don't care if a player is using performance-enhancing drugs? In fact, maybe that's what they want. After all, Vonn's withdrawal was a huge disappointment to skiing fans, who hoped to see her defend her gold medal win in 2010. Why not let Vonn take human growth hormone, or whatever she needs, in order to recover quickly?

In fact, why not push this thought experiment even further? What if Vonn decided not to repair her torn ACL, but opted instead to replace her entire leg -- or both legs -- with advanced prosthetics better than her originals? She might add attachments allowing her to jump higher, ski faster and perform stunts that are impossible with legs made out of flesh, muscle and blood. Her legs would never suffer an injury again.

Such a RoboCop twist would, obviously, change the nature of Olympic competition. If Vonn was allowed to use prosthetic legs, pairs figure skating competitors, for example, might be assisted by low doses of Adderall. This stimulant is prescribed for patients with ADHD to focus their attention, but is also used off-label by millions of healthy people to improve their concentration and performance. Speed skaters could be allowed to utilize low dose steroids to boost strength and recovery time. Sports authorities could establish rules governing the dose and safe use of these and other drugs just like those that set the strict parameters for size, weight and composition of skis, bobsleds and other equipment.” (Ewing )

Commentary: This foresight into the future of sports if they allow players to use performance enhancing drugs is interesting. The author states that if we let athletes use performance enhancing drugs that should lead to prosthetic body parts and then that will lead to bionic body parts. This is an interesting statement to show how bad using performance enhancing drugs could be. He makes his statement simple into saying that cheating is cheating no matter how insignificant it may be. Webster’s dictionary defines cheating as, to break a rule or law usually to gain an advantage at something. The beginning of the quote refers to Lindsey Vonn’s injury and how some think it should have been dealt with. He states that some believe that she should have taken steroids to get better. He questions if this is wrong then answers it by saying that is the same as being bionic. The athlete has an unfair advantage in both cases so the author is stating that both are basically the same. He uses the example to show how these forms of cheating would drastically affect the games. He then states that the Olympic committee could regulate the use of drugs in the Olympics and when it is acceptable and when it is not.