Doping, Steroids, Banned substances, the program, supplements
All terms we hear everyday in the news about sport, a topic to a degree we have all become used to, normalised to.
Are some sports worse than others?
Some would lead you to believe cycling or Athletics are the dirtiest sports there are.
As an avid cyclist I accept there has been a prolific history of doping in cycling and some of the biggest news stories have been about cyclists, 1 in particular.
However when you research, who are the biggest global super stars, who earn the most and have failed a drugs test? What do you find?
| Name | Sport | Net Worth | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maria Sharapova | Tennis | $300m | Nike |
| Lance Armstrong | Cycling | $125 m | Nike |
| Rio Ferdinand | Football | $75 m | Nike |
| Vitali Klitschko | Boxing | $65 m | unknown |
| Edgar Davids | Football | $33 m | unknown |
| Anderson Silva | UFC | $7 m | Nike |
| Justin Gatlin | Athletics | $3 - 5 | Nike |
This table makes interesting reading.
Although Lance Armstrong is widely regarded as the biggest cheat in history, Maria Sharapova at the age of 30 years old had earned almost 2.5 times as much as Lance Armstrong.
Now if we are talking about prize money, sponsorship who is the bigger fraud? who knows how long performance enhancing drugs were used before she got caught?
A lot of noise is made about athletics and the cheating that happens in that sport, however the sport as a whole and the athletes really earn very little as professional athletes. A lot has been made about Justin Gatlin's failed drug tests, however in the big scheme of things the guy earns pennies.
What do these people have in common?
So of the names in that table whats the commonality. Each of those stars was a winner, they were the best or one of the best in their sport, a true great, legend, someone to be admired.
Yet each of them has failed a drugs test, why is that.
The reality is, we expect a lot from our athletes. We want to see them perform week in week out under brutal strain and training. We want them bigger, faster, stronger, to play for longer more often.
The reality is to do that, and be the best, the sharpest athlete, they turn to performance enhancing drugs to give them that edge.
Sponsorship
With success comes sponsorship, every brand wants to be associated with a successful athlete. From this list the most common sponsor is Nike.
Nike love being associated with the next headline winning athlete.
There are rumours, of the extent to which Nike knew about Lance's doping before he got caught. But as long as you keep winning and don't get caught, Nike are happy to have you photographed in their kit, and they will pay you well for it.
If you don't dope you wont cope
Its worth considering these athletes have trained their entire lives to do this, one dream, one focus.
Its make or break, there is no real money for finishing 10th, being a name nobody knows. With the added pressure now from your sponsors, looking for more headlines for your success, with a photo in your sponsored t shirt.
So to get that edge and be successful, athletes turn to drugs.
The future
We will not eliminate drugs from sport, it is too difficult, the dopers will always be two steps ahead. They may get caught eventually, but its old news then.
We as fans need to re asses what we want from our sports stars? Do we want to see reality, or what we have today?
As long as we keep paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket, salaries stay high, sponsorship stays high and the desire to be the best does not change.
Some talk of having a free for all, take as much as you want policy, what message does this send to the youth of today, the danger it puts them in.
Final thoughts
Before you judge an athlete maybe stop to consider the process and pressure that led to them making that decision.
We were all children once playing in the garden pretending to be our favourite sportsperson, taking the adulation from the crowd. Its just some of us focused all our energy, all our education on it and could not face failure.