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Drugs And Sports : The Use Of Drugs In Sports

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Drugs in sports, also known as doping, is very common around the world. The usage of drugs in sport goes way back, about all the way back to where the concept of sports was invented, during the 1960’s. Doping is a practice that has been going on since the time of "ancient Greek athletes, who supposedly ate herbs, sesame seeds, dried figs, and mushrooms for this purpose" (Hoberman, 1992, 104).In ancient times, when the fittest of a nation were selected as athletes or combatants, they were fed diets and given treatments considered beneficial. For instance, Scandinavian mythology says Berserkers could drink a mixture called "butotens", to greatly increase their physical power at the risk of insanity. One theory is that the mixture was prepared from the Amanita muscaria mushroom, though this has been disputed. The German missionary and doctor Albert Schweitzer wrote of Gabon in the early 19th century: "The people of the country can, having eaten certain leaves or roots, toil vigorously all day without feeling hungry, thirsty or tired and all the time showing a happiness and gaiety. In ancient Rome , where chariot racing had become a huge part of their culture, athletes drank herbal infusions to strengthen them before chariot races.
Many athletes use drugs to make them stronger and faster to win the competition. One of the most known news about it was when Michael Phelps used steroids in the 2008 Olympics. Even though all the tests came negative, he still got caught and that is when doping was starting to be more of an issue. Matthew Irby, a reporter for the Bleacher Report stated, “The drug that Phelps has allegedly tested positive for is a rarely used and/or seen steroid, DDP. DDP stands for Delphinus Delphis Ponticus.” DDP builds endurance in an athlete by increasing the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells. Similar to its sister drug EPO, DDP has been modified so that it targets specific areas of endurance and recovery for swimmers. Given the advantage of taking the illegal steroid, a swimmer could performer better during races and then recover quicker if another race was soon to come. After this 2008 incident, Phelps was then tested sixteen times the 2016 olympics. Phelps was not at all bothered by

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