Drug Reform In Sports By Lance Armstrong: Article Analysis

In January of 2013, Lance Armstrong confessed on the Oprah Winfrey Show to regularly using prohibited performance-enhancing drugs to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles. Before, Armstrong had been considered a hero for his successful fight against testicular cancer, the Livestrong campaign, his foundation, and being a consistent champion in a generally underrepresented sport in the United States. After, he lost all of his most lucrative sponsorships, recognition of his victories from the Tour de France, and his reputation. In The Lance Armstrong Saga: A Wake-up Call for Drug Reform in Sports, Phillip Sparling explains how now, after Lance Armstrong’s exposure, “It is no longer about Armstrong; it is about the charade of drug-free sport

I grew up five houses down from Lance Armstrong’s home in Austin, Texas and went to elementary school with his kids. When news broke out about Lance’s scandal in 2013 everyone in the city was devastated because he had been a cultural icon and the pride of the city for nearly two decades. People felt deceived by Lance Armstrong because he lied about doping for such a long time. In his article, Sparling makes it abundantly clear that doping exists everywhere in the sporting world and these athletes “live with the deception, while the public believe doping is limited and controlled by drug testing” (53). As a fan of MMA, I believe the sport should be the ultimate competition of natural athletic ability, but it seems like every great fighter is eventually caught for using performance-enhancing drugs at some point in their career. Every time it taints my perception of them because I am led to believe doping has no place in the sport. However, recently I’ve began to accept doping as part of the sport and I no longer feel disappointed. I think if there were leagues where it is well known that everyone is doping, people wouldn’t have anything to feel deceived about. It’s kind of like how sometimes in movies people like a villain because the character is openly villainous so it’s kind of cool, but people tend to hate characters that

In the current state of sports there is a lot of incentive and pressure to participate in doping because although some athletes do get caught, a lot don’t. Sparling acknowledges this by saying, “most ‘dirty’ cyclists are never caught” (53). Then when they do get caught, it’s usually a long time after they reaped the benefits of success. When talking about the stripping of the medals from the four 2004 Olympic track and field athletes Sparling writes, “How useful is justice 8 years later” (54). This statement reflects how difficult it is for anti-doping agencies to catch doping athletes. Even though there would be leagues for athletes who wish to use performance-enhancing drugs, there would still be athletes who would try to dope in natural leagues to have a competitive edge. However, I believe the majority of athletes competing in natural leagues would abide by the rules because they wish to participate in fair and pure athletic competition. With less athletes compelled to cheat, it would most likely be easier for anti-doping agencies to find doping athletes in natural leagues. Natural leagues would probably never be completely pure, but they would be a way for fans and athletes to enjoy the closest thing to pure athleticism