Ethical Analysis Of Athlete Access To Sports Equipment

In sports, athletes often depend on some form of equipment to enable activities, including the ability to participate in sport. Thus, applying technology in the sport equipment becomes a necessary condition for many sport to arise. However, changes or introductions of technology in sport-related equipment can affect how a sport is played or influence its performances. In this circumstance, determining precisely when technology assists sports performance and when it transforms or distorts them presents a philosophical and ethical dilemma.

This paper seeks to offer an ethical analysis of athlete access to sports equipment surrounds the use of full body swimsuit in the swimming competition with a focus on the importance of ethics and fair play.

Generally, utilitarian ethics require that acting in a manner that creates the most good for the most people. Also, there’s two principles for applying Utilitarianism. For the first principle, good actions increase pleasure and reduce pain. From this perspective, the use of “fastskin” swimsuit can be determined as a right action. According to the swimming world magazine (2008), US super star Michael Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals in Beijing Olympics, describes his third generation “fastskin” swimsuit that “When I hit the water, I feel like a rocket...It’s the best suit yet and it feels great.” From his words, we can know that this kind of swimsuit provide pleasure to the swimmers. In addition, we all know that athletes will be elate about winning a race and this happiness might multiply if they contributed to a new world record. Undoubtedly, “fastskin” swimsuit helped them achieved their goals more easily and thus provide them more pleasure. Second principle is that do not harm and respect liberty. For this principle, using of the “fastskin” swimsuit is also the right action. Apparently, swimsuit is not like drugs and it won’t harm the athlete at all. Instead, it would help the athlete improving their level and thus everyone would like to choose to wear it and their liberty are not being infringed. Back to the main idea of the Utilitarianism, the “fastskin” swimsuit indeed creates the most good for the most people. It provides pleasures to the athletes and coaches by winning the medals as well as breaking the world records, to fans and audience by watching the exciting games, even to the event and organizations by bring this sport to a new level and evoking the hot topics in the