How were the feats of athletes for doping in the past year? For those who have been faithful to follow the news in sports can say that doping really emerged in the field last 2008. Numbers of doping offenses have been recorded, making the shadow of drug abuse within the field apparent both for the sports authorities and audiences. These are the issues by many sportswriters. An example is the featured review of Manolo Iñigo of Philippine Daily Inquirer. Tim Laden of Sports Illustrated also published an article which states that the problem of doping is insoluble, unless the method used for drug detection will be further enhanced to catch up the occurring deception.

Apparently, reports about doping offenses in sports a year ago revealed the extensive involvement of professional athletes in Europe and United States. These players hit the headlines over and over again by being involved in the use of performance enhancing drugs. Those reports suggest the confinement of many athletes, especially those who are located in the west and east, in the worldwide menace of performance enhancing drugs.

According to Iñigo, the frequency of the athletes’ involvement in the use performance enhancing drugs resulted to an improved drug testing to significantly stop the problem. Particularly, drug testing was further improved in international competitions such as cycling’s Tour de France and Summer Olympic. These days, new equipment is capable to detect even just small traces of steroids. He also mentioned that anti doping agencies acquired a $500,000 machines, which they first used during Atlanta Olympics in 1996, which have detected 56 weightlifters to use steroids to develop their muscles.

“It’s a very big improvement,” said one tester. “Now we can detect much lower levels (of steroids) than in the past. It enables us to look back farther in time, as much as two, three or four months.”
A lot of athletes were banned in the past year, but two of the most popular figures to make the nosiest issue in 2008 are the United States’ sprinter Marion Jones and Spain’s Tour de France cyclist Manuel Beltran.

Jones amazed a lot of audiences during 2000 Sydney Games as she gathered five track and field medals in only one Olympics—the first woman to achieve such record in Olympics history. She won the gold in the 100 meters and bronze in 200 and 4×400 relay, 4×100 relay, as well as long jump.

However, the world was stunned by her admission for taking performance enhancement substance. In a snap, she fell from grace: the erasure of her records in the books of the International Olympic Committee; the stripping of her five medals by Sports authorities; and the slap of her two-year ban.

The Spanish cyclist Beltran was also banned from the Tour after he tested positive for the banned drug EPO and was immediately suspended by his Liquigas team. “When are these idiots going to learn that (doping) is over?” said Pat McQuiad of the International Cycling Union. “They continue to think that they can beat the system. They’re wrong.”

Robert Galbraith of the Reuters also noticed the disappointments in sports for the past year because of the frequency of doping offenses inside the field. Another hot issue he re-called in 2008 is the controversy created by Roger Clemens by promising to say to Congress the whole truth about steroids.Now, what more can athletes do in the advent of 2009? Will they cease or will they continue to be involve in the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs, the elements to mark the grim fate of their career.

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