DOES THE PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUG UNDERMINE THE SPIRIT OF SPORT? What’s common in Spiderman, Fantastic 4, and Captain America? Their journey from where they start. All reel life super heroes are self-improving individual. They were not the heroes until they bump into with the scientific experiment or Nature’s bustle. Same can be the saga with the Sportsmen. They want to create history by winning a Medal and some of them won’t mind seeking helping from drugs.
Who doesn’t want to enhance their performance in any field of their work or job? If one look at employee’s (sportsman) point of view he/she will be getting new avenues of earning name and fame, recognition from their country and also from world’s media. Then if one looks at Company's (Inner self, Family, Brands, and Country) point of view it’s always good that their employee mark their manifestation (unless it isn’t effecting Company’s reputation or rather it isn’t naked). And when it comes to peers (if they are too true to their company) one is being egocentric because there is matter of being promoted with more than just a Gold Medal. And this also may arouse interest of their peers to opt the enhancement therapy (which can be better for company). So one can’t be exactly sure of favouring doping which is better for sport and sportsman but only in short run.
Different Kinds of Drugs used in Sports: The practice of taking remedial measures for performance enhancing is called Doping in Sports. There are different performance enhancing drugs for different requirements of an athlete, depending upon the sports and the core competence required for realisation of objective.
• Stimulants – Caffeine, Amphetamine, Cocaine Many athletes have to follow strict guidelines for diet and also they have many social obligations. And this leads to stress of being a public figure, weight issues; so for that sportsmen seek help from drugs.
• Build Muscle/ Bones - Anabolic Steroids, Insulin
Anabolic steroids help in increasing the strength by promising new muscle growth.

• Relaxants- Alcohol, Beta-blockers, Cannabinoids Alcohol and other relaxants are commonly used to help people relax because it lessens activity in the brain and nervous system. And it helps athlete by relaxing and coping with the pressures of competition.

• Mask Drug Use - Plasma Expanders and Secretion Inhibitors
• Mask Pain – Narcotics, Cortisone, Local anesthetics Many foreign banned substances have structures that are like organic foods in shape. The medical condition of gout is treated by doctors with help of these substances. These drugs can be used to manipulate the results of urine tests. It also has some side effects like nausea, vomiting and may be kidney problems as well.
• Reduce Weights - Diuretics Diuretics are commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure and are often found in diet pills. Diuretics act on the kidney to increase the flow of urine. They are used by athletes whose events have weight restrictions -- sports like weightlifting, horse racing and rowing.
• Increase Oxygen Delivery - EPO Blood Doping Artificial Oxygen Carriers Blood doping is the practice of infusing whole blood into an athlete in order to increase oxygen delivery to the tissues. A similar effect can be achieved by training at high altitudes
Doping Cases: There are numerous cases in doping. Almost every Nation with almost every sport has history of doping (not only with human but also with Horses!). The most recent one is of our Live Strong Foundation’s Champ, who almost is like an inspiration to every individual who is associated with sports and also with individuals’ suffering from cancer, Lance Armstrong. There are few authorities which are working in Anti-Doping and are in favour of spirit of sport. They are World Anti-Doping Agency, Australian Anti-Doping Authority and Unites States Anti-Doping Agency. And after being accused by USADA from after more than a decade that he had doped during his celebrated cycling career, Lance Armstrong, one of the most accomplished athletes in recent history, surrendered.
Whooping Cases: There are personalities who are discrete in whatever they do and are passionate about their field of sports. That’s why even sports never say never to them and are always a surprise moment to their audience. If we talk about there have been some old and new faces have come up to make their presence. Their names are enough to replace name of the games – Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Oscar Pistorious (dubbed the fastest man with no legs) If we don’t look at just Olympics there are many other personalities who have done great in their fields.
Being an Indian I am Proud of - Saina Nehwal – Badminton, Sushil Kumar & Yogeshwar Dutt- Wrestling, Gagan Narang & Vijay Kumar- Shooting, Mary Kom- Boxing.
They truly inspire a generation.

Sense of Responsibility towards Mind, Body and Soul: Since all sportsmen are representation of the sport, country, a brand; they have to make sure like they should not only care about the world records and fame but also responsibility towards their health. Because Health is the root of getting success in any job, and since this is sports. Everything has to be at a proper place. And for that lot of money is spent on the fitness of an athlete; like on proper training, proper medication (not doping), proper health check-ups, and proper diet. Then only a team can think of achieving a proper goal. But some teams have perception that it’s not goal for them but it’s an objective. Since they don’t get many chances or rather few to prove them, so they move to DOPING! The problems can be as small as itching and as severe as cardio disorders or damages to central nervous system. And also there are some proofs that though the person taking performance enhancing drugs may have some encouraging effect on their body. But that is for only few minutes (and in games even seconds matter a lot!). Rather it affects the person slowly by damaging either bone structure or brain thereby reducing the life expectancy of a person. It’s not only health; it’s about mind and soul. Many a times it happens if one is not feeling well their mind doesn’t function properly. And that’s not rocket science. And in sports there has to be proper amalgamation of mind, body and soul. Mind to make strategies, Body to implementing these strategies and Soul, so as to make sure that somebody else’s pain is not our gain. There comes the role of having a moral sense and empathy.
Values & Ethics in Sports: There are some values and ethics attached to every aspect of life, since we are humans we should follow these if especially one wants to lead as an example by society. In India it’s a saying that “Cricket is another religion”. Not because that’s the highest grossing game of India, but there are values and teachings attached to the game. If one can understand the visual advertisements of Coke & Pepsi, one can know what the values are. Sports has huge impact on people’s thinking, they can create unity. That’s why for some Morals, Values and Ethics come before Rules or Protocols. The biggest example for this is Sachin Tendulkar, who has not only achieved innumerable feats in his job but also being criticised a lot. But every time he has proved his worth through his sheer devotion, hard work, patience, abilities and love for the Game. Ethics are really important in sports. These are like the roots of the moral behaviour of person. If a person is not ethical towards himself he/she can’t be ethical towards society. Sportsmen should always portray their real image, as they want to see themselves in future or they want that their people should perceive. It’s all about choosing what one thinks is right and what is wrong (and that isn’t that simple).

Who is in-charge for bringing The Change? Sport is a competitive physical game. But Sportsmen have taken the term of being competitive way too seriously. The reasons of taking drugs can vary from person to person depending on their sense of their responsibility towards country and above all towards the spirit of Sport. It can be about money or it can be about patriotism by representing one’s country. It’s the responsibility of all persons associated with the sports. It can be families of sportsmen, their coaches, different doctors and dietician, sponsors, competitors, also the government authorities. Everybody has to understand their role in order to give the sportsman the real aim to work on, which is to lead an as example. After all it’s about getting achievement which is betterment for knowing human being’s limits with respect of mind and body.
It’s a saying “All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy. But in this Doping it should be either
“All work, only to play makes Jack a genuine sports Guy.” or
“All work, only to win makes Jack a dope guy.”