The controversy of steroids in sports has been brewing for years. Many people argue that the records of players who have or are taking steroids should be erased, and they have a good point to argue.  However, others see erasing these records as erasing the game itself. It’s clear that steroids have been used in professional sports, but the question is whether or not the records of those players should be kept. The fact that steroids may have been used long before this controversy means that older records may be false as well. Steroids or performance-enhancing drugs are thought of as hormones that are injected into the body.  However, the term can be used for any substance linked to giving players an unfair advantage over their competition. Before questioning the acceptance of steroids, the overall use of performance enhancing drugs needs to be evaluated.

Steroids can be linked back to ancient Greece where Olympians would create things to make themselves out perform all other competition. The practice of experimenting with substances in order to enhance performance was an accepted practice during this time.  Athletes used herbal medications, wine potions, and ate animal hearts and testicles in an attempt to gain an advantage.   Although steroids have been banned from the Olympics, it doesn’t stop all athletes from taking them; one such example is Marion Jones. Jones was an Olympic runner who received a gold medal in 2000 for running and was later accused of taking steroids. Jones was garnished 200,000 dollars in earnings and was stripped of her gold medal.  In addition, all of Jones’s records were erased from the record books. Many people think that these disciplinary steps were drastic given the fact that she did compete, and she did win the race.  Today, none of Jones’s records exist while many other people in professional sports are getting away with taking steroids.

Steroids are often thought of as anything chemically used to build up your body.  However, when substances like caffeine come into the picture, why isn’t it considered a performance enhancing drug? Caffeine helps athletes’ bodies perform at a high level when they’re too tired to compete. By definition, caffeine could be considered a performance-enhancing drug because it’s giving one athlete an advantage over another. When taking away the records of the athletes who took the injected performance-enhancing drugs, the records of the people who achieved their records while using caffeine would have to be taken away as well. However, caffeine is not a banned substance because it’s too universal and too widely used by the majority of the population.  There’s no way to set a regulatory level since a caffeine level that may be high for one athlete might be normal for another.   Records are a part of the game, and are an important reason why people follow sports. If you erase all of the records of athletes who used any type of performance-enhancing substance, then the entire history of many sports would change.

Steroids have been thought to be the most abused drug in the history of athletics. Steroid use has been reported in the Olympics, MLB, NFL, the NBA, and cycling, to name just a few.  Taking all the players that use steroids out of the game could destroy the game itself.   There’s absolutely no way to go back in history omit the records of athletes that achieved their success using the same substances that are banned now.  By keeping the records of people who took steroids, the history of the sport is preserved. The popularity of today’s sports is characterized by the top athletes, and some of them have taken substances to improve their performance to the highest level possible. If the public determines that these athletes are cheaters, then they’ll just be cheating themselves.

The controversy over steroids will forever be debated in sports, and only time will tell whether or not the records of the players that took steroids should be kept. Today, the use of steroids is considered cheating, but that wasn’t always the case.  In years past, using performance enhancing drugs was considered giving your best performance.   If we erase the records of athletes who have used steroids, where do we stop?  How do we justify erasing the history in some sports but not others?  This is a question that will be debated by experts for years to come.