Doping in athletics
 Doping simply means giving drugs
to an animal or a person to improve performance in a race or a sport.
This is prohibited in athletics and games.
An athlete can’t use a prohibited drug. It is always possible to
detect when an athlete uses a prohibited drug.
Testing for drugs is so advanced these days that the use of even a
small amount of drugs can be detected easily. It is that drug analysts
can detect as little as a teaspoonful of sugar in a swimming pool. So,
there is virtually no chance that an athlete can get way with using
prohibited drugs.
Drugs induce artificial stamina. They are dangerous for health too.
Continuous use of drugs can cause high blood pressure, cancer, and
tumours in the liver.
Athletes could be barred from taking part in any kind of sport or
athletic event for a prescribed period for using prohibited drugs, or
more seriously, he or she could be banned for life from taking part in
any kind of sporting event.
There have been many examples of athletes being punished for taking
prohibited drugs. Perhaps the most widely published incident is that of
Ben Johnson who won the 100m sprint event at the Olympics setting a
world record. But when it was found that he had used prohibited drugs he
was stripped of his gold medal.
- R.B. Madushika Ilangasinghe
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