Jessie Burdick wonders whether it is cheating for athletes to take dietary supplements, and we ask you, the reader, to tell us what you think.
What would you be willing to do to become a professional athlete? This is a question that demands more than a fleeting thought, because not only will becoming a successful professional athlete bring you millions of dollars, but you will achieve fame, fortune and worldwide recognition. Along with that you will be getting paid a lot to do something that you really love and enjoy.
It seems like professional athletes have it all. They are as worshipped as movie stars, allowed to act like rock stars and always seem to age gracefully after their sports careers are over. So perhaps the question should be what wouldn’t you be willing to do to become a professional athlete?
Would you be willing to cheat to be a professional athlete? Hopefully you are asking the question “What do you consider cheating?” because then you are really considering my question. Cheating is different everywhere, in every culture and even more in every sport.
One of the most common, well-known and least spokenabout, issues in sports is that of supplementation. Just saying that word makes some people uncomfortable. In the world of athletics the use of dietary supplements is widespread and there exists a fine line between what is considered a legal supplement and what is a decidedly illegal steroid.
Supplements are intended to help out an athlete in areas where there may exist a deficiency. This could be a lack of protein, creatine or even testosterone. And because of this any substance taken to correct a deficiency could be considered a ‘supplement’ to the athlete’s diet – even the multi-vitamin he takes with breakfast.
Sport supplementation has become a multi-billion dollar industry that has seen its biggest growth in the last five years and shows no signs of slowing down. It used to be difficult for someone to get supplements, but now you can find things like Ephridirne, which has been banned by the NCAA, in corner stores.
The main goal of the supplement industry is to produce legal alternatives to steroids. Sport supplements come in all shapes, sizes, flavors and forms. And in the United States, the only guidelines that need to be followed are those within the Hatch Act. According to the Hatch Act, in order for any supplement to be legal it only needs to be found in a compound that exists in nature. So what you end up with are legal and illegal supplements, but within the legal supplements you have many categories.
It has to be said that neither supplements nor steroids can make an athlete great by themselves. Any supplement used without a workout routine will produce no results. This is similar to the stance the American College of Sports Medicine took, until 1985. They held that steroids were nothing more than a placebo. Athletes on steroids just worked harder and longer, and this extra work, not the steroids, was causing the incredible muscle growth and strength increase. They were wrong about steroids, but right that hard work, in the weight room or elsewhere, is an unavoidable part of achieving better performance.
This isn’t a new phenomenon. Taking performance enhancing substances has a long and rich history. As far back as the 776 BCE Olympics, athletes were using cola plants, hashish, cactus-based stimulants and even eating sheep’s testicles in an effort to boost performance. In the late 1800s, athletes were using ether-coated sugar cubes and wine laced with cocaine to offset pain and fatigue. In the 1904 Olympics, Thomas Hicks, an American runner, had to be revived by several physicians after he won a race while on cocaine and strychnine. And he still got his gold medal.
When is taking supplements considered cheating? Usually it is when they give an athlete a better chance of winning or success. But, then, by that same token wouldn’t the child of two Olympic athletes be cheating? Is the player who just happens to live in, or moves into, the best high school football district in the country cheating? Can a player lucky enough to have a great coach be accused of cheating? Aren’t all the people in these situations guilty of having an edge over others because of their situation? Is this considered cheating? No, because they are competing to win.
© JESSIE BURDICK 2003
Jesse Burdick has a degree in sociology and criminal justice studies and is a former NCAA baseball player and current amateur athlete.