Win at All Costs

The inordinate desire to excel on a national and an individual level, at any cost, has contributed in no small way to the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs. This usage can lead to mental problems ranging from deep depression to outbursts of violent rage. In the Calgary Herald, Dr. Harrison Pope was quoted as saying: “There is a far higher incidence of psychiatric symptoms attributable to anabolic steroids than any of us previously thought.” A doctor attached to the U.S. Olympic team said: “You cannot be competitive now in international sport without using anabolic steroids.”

“We’re using bioengineering to make these people bigger, faster, stronger,” adds an Olympic team doctor. “And it’s going to get more barbaric. People will go to almost any length to enhance their performance.” This is known as the “win-at-all-costs syndrome” and, more disturbingly, the “Frankenstein syndrome.” Coubertin’s motto, “The most important thing is less to win than to take part,” seems totally irrelevant in a society that rationalizes all efforts in the quest for “gold”​—victory and subsequent advertising endorsements and fees.

Blood doping, human growth hormones, artificial insemination followed by abortion, and urine replacement are all part of a scheme used by some Olympic athletes to beat the drug testing and to enhance their performance at the games.

In the Calgary Herald, Dr. Harrison Pope was quoted as saying: “There is a far higher incidence of psychiatric symptoms attributable to anabolic steroids than any of us previously thought.” A doctor attached to the U.S. Olympic team said: “You cannot be competitive now in international sport without using anabolic steroids.”