The rules of sport definne a level playing field on which athletes compete.Antidoping policies exist,in theory, to encourage fair play.However,we believe they are unfounded dangerous,and excessively costly.
The need for rules in sports cannot be dismissed. But the anchoring of today’s antidoping regulations in the notion of fair play is misguided, since other factors that affect performance —e.g., biological and environmental factors, —are unchecked. Getting help from one’s genes — by being blessed with a performance-enhancing genetic predisposition —is acceptable.Use of drugs is not. Yet both types of advantage are undeserved. Prevailing sports ethics is unconcerned with this contradiction.
Andy Miah Ph.D. (@andymiah) is the Visions of Utopia and Dystopia fellow of the IEET, and Chair in Ethics and Emerging Technologies in the School of Creative and Cultural Industries and Director of the Creative Futures Research Centre at the University of the West of Scotland, Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, USA and Fellow at FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, UK.