Why do Professional Athletes Use Performance-Enhancing Drugs?

It is pretty obvious why some professional athletes decide to use performance-enhancing drugs; they want to improve their performance. There is a heavy weight of expectation on professional athletes to keep performing to the highest level, and for a few of them the pressure is just too much. They want to win; they want to be adored by the public; and so losing is not an option. They have access to the best doctors and staff and a determined athlete can easily gain access to performance-enhancing drugs. They run the risk of getting caught and having their reputation irreparably damaged, yet they do it anyway.

The trouble for most professional athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs is that they usually get caught. They may not be found out initially if they are taking a drug which cannot yet be tested for, but eventually various sports' governing bodies catch up and they can retroactively perform tests. Any athlete caught drags their sport into the mud. When the public learns that one cyclist or one runner has taken drugs, the whole sport is tarnished because the assumption is that they must all be at it. This is incredibly unfair to those athletes who have always played by the rules and have never taken any kind of performance-enhancing drug.

However, those athletes who do take performance-enhancing drugs are obviously selfish. They believe they're invincible and that they're never going to get caught. They are obsessed with winning or at least not losing. It is too much for their ego to bear. There is also the fact that an athlete's career has a relatively short lifespan. An athlete only has a certain number of years for him to make his fortune so that he will never have to work again. Unfortunately, athletes frequently pick up injuries that get in the way of their training and make it difficult for them to perform to a high standard consistently.

When athletes have sponsors constantly breathing down their neck and coaching staff telling them what to do, they may feel that they have no other option but to use performance-enhancing drugs, since winning is not only about glory. They also have to think about their financial standing, and some cannot imagine leading a less extravagant lifestyle. They want to continue earning high sums of money and this can only happen when they are on top of their game. Thus, out of desperation and greed they find themselves using performance-enhancing drugs and once they start it is virtually impossible to stop, since to do so would mean they're right back at square one, having to prove themselves again.

When athletes are caught using performance-enhancing drugs they undermine people's faith in the integrity of sport, which is bad news for their fellow athletes. Clearly, athletes have to cope with the pressures associated with performing consistently well in their sport, but they also run the risk of getting found out and losing favour with the public. Plus, in the long run they could develop serious health problems. Yet, despite all the drawbacks there are still many athletes prepared to risk everything by taking drugs.