Is it time to give up on the war on drugs in sport?

[WoodallServices]

I include everyone and virtually every event but the “smashing“ of world records is getting beyond a joke now! Records that have stood for years or are usually beaten by tenths of a second or even less are now getting smashed out of the park with impunity. I’m not just thinking the usual suspects like like cycling (although??) but Warholm in the 400m hurdles who I thought was a breath of fresh air knocks three quarters of a second off a WR he set a week ago!

 

[JackG]

I think we should remove the traditional sports from the equation and just have competitive drug-taking.

 

[WoodallServices]

See who can can smoke a 3ft “Dooby“ the quickest!

 

[Berwickhillbilly]

No

 

[Low_Key]

what is very interesting is how some of the women's records have stood for nearly 40 years, given the improvement in training, kit, food etc. the 100m, 200, 400m and 800m records have stood since the 80's. obviously drugged up to the max in those events as virtually every other record is within the past 10 years

 

[wilkos_perm]

you can never give up on it. Doping can be very dangerous to health and it needs discouraging to protect youngsters coming through

 

[bear66]

No. For health reasons and sporting integrity.

 

[KDG]

Lifetime ban, simple

 

[Alzi]

It's ruining many sports. Take rugby for example, at amateur level it's absolutely rife and endangering people (the user and opponents). It's also putting off many players who don't fancy facing roided up lads in what is meant to be a fairly social game.

 

[BlindBoyGrunt]

In sport no. Firstfly it will lead to a race for new substances which will be rushed through without proper trials and with consequences to follow. Secondly pharmacology will become the prime catalyst for improvement in sport with training, diet and natural ability in the back seat.

 

[FatFrank]

Let everyone dope, make it more entertaining.

Same goes for the Tour de France, I want to see climbers going up the Tourmalet at 20mph!

 

[jonny_greenings_sock]

I follow cycling and there's been crazy times and performances all year.

Theory is that, because of COVID obviously, much harder for testers to travel and perform random tests in the last 18 months.

So if you're taking things that enhance your ability to train rather than sprint faster on the day, you've had a free swing for the last year.

 

[Frozen Horse]

the “smashing“ of world records is getting beyond a joke now! Records that have stood for years or are usually beaten by tenths of a second or even less are now getting smashed out of the park with impunity.

I'd turn some of that around: those records that have stood for years often were set in the age of less stringent drug testing.

Clean athletics has only slowly caught up through better nutrition, training techniques etc, plus the ongoing development of the human race into larger, stronger specimens.

 

[Christans1967]

There is an issue with the footwear athletes are wearing which seems to be taking tenths off times.

 

[WoodallServices]

you can never give up on it. Doping can be very dangerous to health and it needs discouraging to protect youngsters coming through

I suppose what I was getting at is it’s clearly rife so how the hell are they not catching a larger proportion of people, is it lack of personnel facilities to catch them or is it turn a blind eye as there’s too much money involved?

Just had a thought while I was typing….maybe it’s because of Covid-19 as the majority of testing facilities are taken up with other things so everyone’s filling their boots!

 

[bear66]

I suppose what I was getting at is it’s clearly rife so how the hell are they not catching a larger proportion of people, is it lack of personnel facilities to catch them or is it turn a blind eye as there’s too much money involved?

Just had a thought while I was typing….maybe it’s because of Covid-19 as the majority of testing facilities are taken up with other things so everyone’s filling their boots!

It looks a fast track, but the development of the spikes from the well proven marathon technology looks to be having a big effect.

 

[Fat_Dragon]

Warholm in the 400m hurdles who I thought was a breath of fresh air knocks three quarters of a second off a WR he set a week ago!

There is talk that technology (shoes) might be the reason he smashed the world record.

 

[Steer]

I had this conversation with Mrs Steer the other day. As a fan of lots of Olympic sports and of the TDF etc, I feel that if you would like to continue to enjoy those sports as they are you almost have to pretend to be utterly naïve. If I thought that many competitors were cheats, then it would ruin the whole sport for me.

Would I have enjoyed the 1992 mens Olympic 100m final so much if I knew that most of the runners would end up getting caught taking drugs at some point later in their careers?

When you get competitors coming out of nowhere who win medals or take titles, then of course its hard to maintain the thought that what you are watching is genuine.

 

[bear66]

I had this conversation with Mrs Steer the other day. As a fan of lots of Olympic sports and of the TDF etc, I feel that if you would like to continue to enjoy those sports as they are you almost have to pretend to be utterly naïve. If I thought that many competitors were cheats, then it would ruin the whole sport for me.

Would I have enjoyed the 1992 mens Olympic 100m final so much if I knew that most of the runners would end up getting caught taking drugs at some point later in their careers?

When you get competitors coming out of nowhere who win medals or take titles, then of course its hard to maintain the thought that what you are watching is genuine.

Who has come from nowhere?

 

[Billy69_uk]

I would have a separate Olympics with no limitations.

I want to see a centaur compete against a roided up sprinter in the 100m