Drugs, bad behaviour and cheating in sport seems to be becoming a bigger problem than in the past, but I am not convinced that’s the case. It seems to me that the media coverage of certain sporting events – and inevitably the issues surrounding the athletes – is much more intense than in the past.
Is It Possible To Eliminate Doping?
The problem is that I don’t think doping is ever going to go away in elite sport. There are certain sports where it is much more prevalent than others – cycling seems to be really struggling at the moment – but there are always new technologies that help the cheats.
There are also more ways of catching them, which is why I think more and more athletes are being caught out, which makes it appear as if the problem is getting worse. Perhaps more athletes are taking drugs, but I think it’s more likely that more are getting caught.
There are also a lot of private agendas in the media which sports fans should look out for. For example, recently Wayne Rooney was (probably rightly) vilified in the press for swearing into a camera when scoring. He received a two game ban which was appropriate considering the game was in the middle of the day and being watched by thousands of children. A week later an England rugby player was found guilty of eye gouging – which most would consider a far more serious offence – yet this received barely any news coverage. He did get a 9 week ban for it but I was surprised that more wasn’t made of it in the press, as it’s an action that could have cost another player his sight.