SHOULD SPORTS PEOPLE WHO ARE GUILTY OF

DOPING BE BANNED FOR LIFE?

 INTRODUCTION
• The usage of banned drugs in sports has had a major impact on the development of
sports and sportsmanship. Drugs in sport concern medical practitioners because of
the implicit risks they pose to the health of the athlete. There are also ethical
concerns about cheating by artificially enhancing performance. 
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has prepared an Olympic Movement
Anti-Doping Code which lists prohibited substances and methods of doping.
Health professionals must be aware of the need to avoid prescribing banned
medications and providing written notifications when restricted substances are
necessary.
• Cheating is cheating, no matter what venue or arena of sport. Every day we hear of
some sports hero using banned substances. It doesn’t matter whether it is cocaine,
methamphetamines, alcohol or steroids; drugs are prevalent in every sport. In most
cases, these athletes are given a slap on the wrist, a temporary suspension from
play and possibly some menial fine. This means nothing to the overpaid player
who makes millions.
 LIFE BAN FOR DOPERS
• One time WADA Vice President and IOC anti-doping official Arne Ljungqvist once
told the international media that apart from the deterrent effect, a four-year ban also
has a sound scientific argument. He said that substances such as anabolic steroids
could stay in the system longer than two years, meaning that some of those who were
handed a 24-month ban still benefited from the effects.
• There is also the argument that a two-year ban is not necessarily long enough to
properly disrupt the careers of those who have cheated. Many banned athletes are
able to stand down, train hard and come back in good shape. They miss two years out
of their careers but those who are considering taking shortcuts know that even if they
are caught, they can return and continue to earn a high income.
• Four years, though, is different. The gap is large enough to raise serious doubts about
being able to get back to the same level and it can be easily argued that this will cause
many to think twice about breaking the rules. 
FIRST HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE
SUSPENSION
• In a major breakthrough in the fight against doping, a British rugby league player named
Terry Newton became the world’s first athlete to be suspended for using human growth
hormone (HGH) on 22 February 2010. But the 31-year-old former Leeds, Wigan, Bradford
and Wakefield hooker was found dead after police were called to his home on 26
September 2010. 
• The HGH test has been around since the 2004 Athens Olympics but it is not available to
every laboratory in the world. 
• The testing kits were not widely available and the process was only fully introduced at the
2008 Beijing Games. By acting on the liver and other tissues, HGH increases bone growth
and plays a key role in muscle and organ growth. That makes it a prohibited substance
under WADA’s list of prohibited substances.
• When someone gets caught for doping, the word ‘knowingly’ should be given extra
attention. There are too many cases of banned substances being found in regular medicines
or in supplements that appear okay. 
FIRST HUMAN GROWTH
HORMONE SUSPENSION
• On the other hand, Justin Gatlin has said athletes returning from doping bans
deserve to be given a second chance in the wake of Usain Bolt’s comments that
Tyson Gay’s one-year ban was “the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
• Gatlin was Olympic 100-metre champion in 2004 but was given a four-year ban
after testing positive for testosterone in 2006. Since his comeback, he has returned
to the upper echelons of the track world and finished 2014 as the top-ranked
sprinter, running personal bests over 100 metres (9.77 seconds) and 200 metres
(19.68) last summer. The dissenting voices he’s heard since returning don’t faze him
in the least.
• “Critics are just what they are,” he said. “They’re going to pick at the positivity of
things. I come out to do what everyone else is trying to do, which is run, run fast
and win. I’m not really concerned with what naysayers or critics say. I come out
here to do my job and I have to prepare myself for a race and run fast.” 
ATHLETES SUPPORT FOR LIFE BAN
• In the meantime, it’s good to see that many international athletes
who have directly and indirectly suffered through the penalties
believe that dopers should be banned for life.
• Ex-Sri Lankan athletics captain and Asian Games record-holder
in the 400 metres, Damayanthi Dharsha, once warned athletes
that there was no easy route to success and that drugs had no
place in the field.
• Olympian Jamie Baulch, who was retrospectively awarded a gold
medal in the 4x400-metre relay at the 1997 World Championships
after American runner Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping,
believes current sanctions are too lenient.
CONCLUSION
• Scientists previously thought that the reacquisition of muscle mass - with or without
steroids - after periods of inactivity was linked to motor learning.
• However, the new study reveals there is a celluar ‘memory mechanism’ within muscle of
brief steroid users, which could have consequences for the two-year exclusion time of
doping offenders as brief exposure to anabolic steroids might have long-lasting
performance-enhancing effects.
• Researchers at the University of Oslo, using mice in a study to investigate the effects of
steroids on muscle reacquisition, found greater muscle mass and more myonuclei –
essential components for muscle fibre function - were apparent after returning to exercise.

Lead author Professor Kristian Gundersen said: “Mice were briefly exposed to steroids
which resulted in increased muscle mass and a number of cell nuclei in the muscle fibres.