What is the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and what drugs have they banned?
In the world of competitive endeavors, just about everyone does whatever they can to get an edge. When it comes to athletes, they are perhaps the most famous (or infamous) in the world in terms of utilizing drugs or other supplements to get ahead. While previous years have shown evidence of athletes cheating when they’re in the arena, newer years are showing that newer drugs and chemicals are being utilized by and now legalized by the (World Anti-Doping Agency) WADA, one of the foremost organizations in the world that controls what can and cannot be used by athletes in their competitive endeavors. Before we can get into what is and isn’t banned it’s also important to understand a bit about WADA.
What is World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)?
WADA stands for the World Anti-Doping Agency. While WADA gets a lot of credit from people for ensuring that athletes don’t cheat, a lot of people criticize them and indict them as frauds. This is because they claim that WADA is actually well aware of which athletes cheat, and many athletes simply allege that they are purposely ignoring which athletes cheat and letting the bigger names get by for the sake of popularity. Regardless, there are a lot of people that criticize them for their actions, but even if you don’t agree with them, there are still options. For a lot of these athletes, in spite of the WADA sanctions, they continue to do whatever it is they have to do to compete. They utilize a lot of different substances to get this done as well.
What Drugs Do They Use?
In the world of competitive athletics, there are all sorts of drugs that are used to help athletes get a competitive advantage. First and foremost, it’s important to understand that just because athletes don’t get caught cheating, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t cheaters. There are a lot of cheaters in the world of athletics, but those that are the primary offenders tend to be those that stay away from other parts of the world. These are individuals that lack access to more advanced methods of doping, and they tend to be caught up for a lot of reasons.
The drugs predominantly used by athletes are the same ones that a doctor might prescribe to someone that needs more energy or vitality. Anabolic steroids are mostly used to enhance the athletes performance and gain an advantage over his or her competitor. Drugs like testosterone, a hormone that is found naturally in the bodies of male and females. This drug promotes focus, aggression, and ensures the body can recover properly. It is important to understand that the drug itself is used as a base for other drugs, as these drugs when used exogenously can tax the body’s hormonal supply. By injecting testosterone, the subject can continue to use the other drugs without doing catatsrophic damage to their endocrine system and body as a whole.
Overall, the world of doping is a very shady one, and because of this, it’s very important to understand that although they hope for a truly clean playing field, this is something that is simply impossible.