Drug Use in Sports Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Drug Use in Sports - Research Paper Example Performance-enhancing drugs may come in the form of dietary supplements, prescripted medication, or illegal drugs (Gomez, 2005). Among the common ergogenic drugs use for to enhance athletic performances includes anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) a.k.a. â€Å"Dianabol† – commonly used to improve the physical structure of athletes’ body, steroid precursors like the androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone, creatine, ephedra or ephedrine alkaloids a.k.a â€Å"ma huang†, erythropoietin, and growth hormones among others (Wiefferink et al., 2008; Calfee & Fadale, 2006; Dhar et al., 2005; Gomez, 2005; McDevitt, 2003). These drugs are available in the market in oral or injectable form. Since a lot of our young athletes desire to improve their physical appearance and athletic abilities within the shortest possible time, a lot of them ends up being tempted to experiment with the use of ergogenic drugs (Wiefferink et al., 2008; Elliot et al., 2007; Calfee & Fadale , 2006; Gomez, 2005).The presence of ergogenic drugs can be traced through the athletes’ blood samples. Although there are medical ways that can be used in determining whether or not each of the sports athletes is taking ergogenic drugs, several authors explained that some athletes are aware on how they can receive a negative drug testing test after taking these drugs (Calfee & Fadale, 2006; Gomez, 2005). In line with this, Calfee & Fadale (2006) explained that it is difficult to detect the presence of steroids substances days before the Olympic game in case the athletes have taken the steroids during the off-season.