Ethical aspects arising from doping in sport

Prior to the implementation of drug testing programs in the late 1960s, the use of performance enhancing substances by athletes appeared to be commonly accepted within the international sporting community. However, a gradual series of events in modern sport history led to countries eventually speaking out against the harm that drugs were causing the individual and sport.

The immediate reaction which doping in sport evokes is certainly negative. A sportsman/woman who dopes him/herself in order to perform better is quickly condemned. However, a closer look at the circumstances surrounding doping, and the variety of actors involved renders an immediate judgement or actions to be undertaken extremely difficult.

The variety of actors

The variety factors involves the sportsman/woman's close environment, the coach, the medical practitioner, the masseur, the nutritional specialist, etc. as well as, in the case of children and adolescents, the parents. The wider environment is composed, inter alia, of the sport club, the sports federation, international organisations, the sponsors, the interim consultancy administrating the contracts between the athletes and the federations, the organisers of sports events, sports articles enterprises, the pharmaceutical industry, laboratories, the media, national public authorities in setting up a legal framework, judges, the state as promoter of the athlete as well as the general public carrying out sports activities and being spectators of events.

Some problems arising from the variety of actors

Against the background of this variety of actors, and consequently, variety of interests involved, the existing legal framework at the national and at the international level in the area of doping, leves large space for interpretation about which instance is responsible in the decision-making process. For example, different rules with regard to sanctions, adoptedby international sports federations and national competent authorities, regularly lead to disputes, in which the period of exclusion from competition varies between 3 months up to 2 years.

Federations have traditionally played an important role in setting rules, promoting the athletes as well as selling the sports events to the media. If taking into consideration that it is also the federations which carry out doping controls and their analysis, a conflict of competing interests is probable to arise.

When it comes to scientific and medical aspects of doping, it is difficult to draw the borderline between the medicalisation of the sportsperson to preserve his/her health and the prescription of drugs to enhance performance. Most of the doping products - depending on the dosage and on the interaction with other products - are considered dangerous for the health. However, not every substance is unhealthy. Certain substances need to be prescribed to treat the sportsperson state of health, though, within the context of sport, considered as doping substance and thus legally banned. The right of the sportsperson to medical treatment could thus be jeopardised.

At the same time, the above-mentioned aspects need to be balanced against the fact that the sportsperson also has the choice to take any decision in a responsible way.