Abuse Of Peds In Sports

Worth the Risk? Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) are substances used to improve any form of performance in humans and boost self-confidence. Athletes and bodybuilders take PEDs. Military personnel use them to enhance combat performance. PEDs came along in the beginning of the Olympics Games (776-393 BC) because athletes were concentrated on winning. Many athletes wanted the edge over their rivals and wanted to make sure their performance was going to be the best it could be. A growing problem in the US is athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, caused by the desire for more muscle mass, a better body image, ease of access, and pressure from parents and coaches; the effects of this abuse are depression, health effects, and even deaths. Solutions to help keep PEDs from the sports world include more testing and harsher punishments. The first reason for the growing abuse of PEDs in sports is to grow muscle faster and better athletes. Modern pharmacology developed in the 19th century and experimented with drugs to improve strength and build muscle faster (Savulesu). The hype began to grow based on taking PEDs to win; Thomas Hicks was one of the first in the third Olympics in St. Louis in 1904 to use PED (Crossing the Line). He won the marathon, but almost died …show more content…
Modern pharmacology developed in the 19th century and experimented with drugs to improve strength and build muscle faster (Savulesu). The hype began to grow based on taking PEDs to win; Thomas Hicks was one of the first in the third Olympics in St. Louis in 1904 to use PED (Crossing the Line). He won the marathon, but almost died from having too much strychnine in his body (Facts about Strychnine). Extracts of this plant are widely used as poison arrow/dart toxins. Strychnine is a totalization poison, and causes convulsive muscle contractions. He kept his medal but risked his life for it