It sounds outrageous of course, but how else will we ever know that sport is conducted on a level and fair playing field? Sports men and women being suspended and banned from their events are now regular occurrences and scandal is first to the finishing line every time.
The desire to win and be number one is immense and some athletes as we are regularly witnessing are prepared to do almost anything to give them that chance of glory. Most athletes' careers are relatively short in the scheme of things and opportunities to be successful have to be grabbed when they come along.
The controversies are widespread and cover a range of sports. Athletics seems to draw in the most attention, especially track events. Perhaps this is because there is a unique purity about the events themselves, no equipment, just man against man, woman against women to prove who is the fastest, the most technical and the most enduring. Other sports do not escape the drugs scourge though, as soccer, swimming, tennis and football amongst others have become littered with scandal and disgrace.
When and how will this ever stop? The governing bodies of each sport are trying everything within their power to restrict and punish heavily, any athlete found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs. Many sports stars have strict guidelines that they have to follow regarding random drugs tests and they are highly intrusive for the people involved.
If these are the measures that have to be applied in order to have even a chance of a completely clean sports world, what have we become? Has the fun been stripped from sport? Will young and budding athletes be put off, not just by the cheats in sport but the guidelines they will have to follow to compete themselves?
Perhaps, as the title suggests, we should allow all sports men and women the permission to take the same performance enhancers, wouldn't we at least then know that when we see these muscled athletes hurtling down the track, that all of them are competing on a fair and equal basis?
How many athletes who are clean by conviction (and whom should be praised for being so) would secretly wish they could take the same substances as the cheats (just once) to then see who would be first through the tape? Perhaps the money should be taken out of sport? How many of the drug taking athletes begin on that road because they have seen the pot of gold that potentially awaits them?
Who will win this war within sport? We surely cannot say that purity within sport is winning at present or there would be no need for articles and stories of this nature. Are there any other solutions other than those currently being employed?
