LEGAL or illegal doping, it makes no difference when it comes to ethics, according to expert Dr Edward Spence.
LEGAL or illegal doping, it makes no difference when it comes to ethics.
Sportspeople who take performance enhancing substances are betraying their fans, according to ethics expert Dr Edward Spence.
Peptides are some of the legal substances players take to enhance performance. They are short chains of amino acids and are the building blocks for protein.
Some peptide supplements are legal, and work similarly to protein supplements to help the body recover from strenuous activity.
A senior lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Dr Spence does not believe sports people genuinely think they are acting unethically.
“They know what they are doing is probably not 100 per cent right, but they are put under a lot of pressure,” he said.
“If everybody else is doing it then they might not get selected for the team. They probably think it is ok because nobody is ever going to find out.”
However, he says players, coaches and managers of sporting teams must know the practice is wrong, otherwise it would not be done in secret.
“Sport is a noble and pure pursuit,” he said.
“Performance enhancing is a betrayal of trust to the public and supporters who dedicate so much time to theses teams. Sport is something people appreciate, admire and aspire to.”
Dr Spence said there was still an issue if sporting codes were open about legal substance abuse.
He said there was the health of players to consider, and clubs with more money could afford better drugs.
“You would have that disparity and it still wouldn’t make it right,” he said.