According to the survey I conducted, results showed that many athletes would take performance-enhancing drugs if it were guaranteed to help their athletic achievements even if side effects were unknown. The rate of performance-enhancing drug use among teenage girls since 1991 has steadily increased. Steroids are not the only way to enhance ones athletic performance. There are many different types of drugs, legal and illegal, that are being used by athletes while in competition. When celebrities like Mark McGuire use drugs and don t warn children about the effects of them, the appeal grows stronger.
Athletes face enormous pressure to excel in competition.
They also know that they can gain more than a gold medal by winning. A star athlete can earn a lot of money and a lot of fame, and athletes only have a short time to do their best work. Athletes know that training is the best path to victory, but they also get the message that some drugs and other practices can boost their efforts and give them a shortcut, even as they risk their health and their athletic careers. In great measure, increases in youth drug usage are driven by the belief among young people striving to succeed in sports that it is necessary to use not just to gain an advantage, but also to merely be competitive in today s sporting world. Evidence of this is seen in the recent ban of ten Chinese swimmers and coaches who tested positive for drug use.