Abstract
There are many definitions of doping, but all of them suggest that doping is the illicit use of drugs with the aim to enhance sports performance and improve an athlete’s ability to win. Doping is fundamentally against the health of the athlete and the spirit of sports. While the harm to health argument appears straightforward, the ethical dimensions are both more ambiguous and more contested. In this entry, key issues are discussed concerning the Prohibited List, Sports Entourage (Athlete Support Personnel), and Equality among athletes, as arguments to demonstrate the importance of the ethics aspects of anti-doping. First published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1967, the Prohibited List has been a continual source of controversy. Moreover, the responsibility of Sports Entourage for doping and anti-doping is unclear. Even with the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code, it is still not clear why athletes should be responsible for doctors’ or coaches’ mistakes. Finally, although doping rules and regulations are not perfect, they seem to better reach equality among athletes than do other rules. In conclusion, the ethics of doping, though not exhaustive of “the spirit of sports,” is an important pillar of anti-doping policy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Benzi, G. (1994). Pharmacoepidemiology of the drugs used in sports as doping agents. Pharmacological Research, 29(1), 13–26.
Botrè, F., & Pavan, A. (2009). Enhancement drugs and the athlete. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 20(1), 133–148.
Bowers, L. D. (1998). Athletic drug testing. Clinics in Sports Medicine, 17(2), 299–318.
Christiansen, A. V. (2010). “We are not sportsmen, we are professionals”: Professionalism, doping and deviance in elite sports. International Journal of Sports Management and Marketing, 7(1), 91–103.
Dikic, N., McNamee, M., Guenter, H., Samardzic-Markovic, S., & Vajgic, B. (2013). Sports physicians, ethics and antidoping governance: Between assistance and negligence. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 47(11), 701–704.
Editorial. (2007). A sporting Chance. Nature, 448(7153), 512.
Hauw, D., & McNamee, M. J. (2014). A critical analysis of three psychological research programs of doping behaviour. Psychology of Sports and Exercise. 10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.03.010. Accessed 11 Aug 2014.
Henne, K. (2009). The Origins of the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission and its technocratic regime: An historiographic investigation of anti-doping regulation and enforcement in international sports. International Olympic Committee Postgraduate Research Grant Programme final report, pp. 1–36.
Hewart, C. J. (1924). R v Sussex Justices, Ex parte McCarthy ([1924] 1 KB 256, [1923] All ER Rep 233).
Hoberman, J. M. (1992). Mortal engines: The science of performance and the dehumanization of sports. New York: Free Press.
Olympic Movement Medical Code. (2009). http://www.olympic.org/PageFiles/61597/Olympic_Movement_Medical_Code_eng.pdf. Accessed 5 Jan 2015.
McNamee, M. J. (2014). Sports, medicine, ethics. Abingdon: Routledge.
McNamee, M. J. (2015). The spirit of sports and its place in anti doping policy. In V. Moller et al. (Eds.), Handbook of drugs and sports. Abingdon: Routledge.
McNamee, M., & Moller, V. (Eds.). (2011). Doping and anti-doping policy in sports: Ethical, legal and social perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge.
Midzovic M. (2009). No redoes in sports. In N. Dikic (Ed.), Both sides clean (pp. 26–33). Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=d1hYAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Accessed 11 Aug 2014.
Moller, V. (2009). The ethics of doping and anti-doping: Redeeming the soul of sports? Abingdon: Routledge.
Savulescu, J., Foddy, B., & Clayton, M. (2004). Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sports. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(6), 666–70.
UNESCO. (2005). International convention against doping in sports. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/anti-doping/international-convention-against-doping-in-sports/. Accessed 15 Jan 2015.
Vernec, A., Stear, S. J., Burke, L. M., & Castell, L. M. (2013). A–Z of nutritional supplements: Dietary supplements, sports nutrition foods and ergogenic aids for health and performance: Part 48. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 47(15), 998–1000.
World Anti Doping Code. (2009). https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/the-code/2009-world-anti-doping-code. Accessed 5 Jan 2015.
WADA Media. (2014). https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2014-11/madagascar-becomes-177th-country-to-ratify-unesco-anti-doping-convention). Accessed 15 Jan 2015.
WADA Prohibited List. (2005). https://www.google.com/search?q=wada+code+2005&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=wada+prohibited+list+2005, p. 5. Accessed 15 Jan 2015.
Further Reading
McNamee, M. J. (2014). Sports, medicine, ethics. Abingdon: Routledge.
McNamee, M., & Møller, V. (Eds.). (2011). Doping and anti-doping policy in sports: Ethical, legal and social perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge.
Moller, V., Waddington, I., & Hoberman, J. (2015). Routledge handbook of drugs and sports. Abingdon: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Dikic, N., Djurdjevic, N., McNamee, M.J. (2015). Doping. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_156-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_156-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05544-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities