Sport, Health and Drugs: A Critical Sociological Perspective - Softcover

Why do many athletes risk their careers by taking performance enhancing drugs? Do the highly competitive pressures elite sports teach athletes to win at any cost?

In order to understand the complex relationships between sport and other aspects of society, it is necessary to strip away our preconceptions of what sport is, and to examine, in as detached a manner as possible, the way in which the world of sport actually functions. This fully updated edition of Ivan Waddington’s classic introduction to drugs in sport examines the key terms and key issues in sport, drugs and performance and is designed to help new students explore these controversial subjects, now so central to the study of modern sport. The book addresses topics such as:

• the emergence of drugs in sport and changing patterns of use
• the development of an objective, sociological understanding
• sports law, policy and administration
• WADA, NGB’s and the sporting federations
• case studies of football and cycling
• the case of sports medicine.

An Introduction to Drugs in Sport: Addicted to Winning is a landmark work in sports studies.  Using interview transcripts, case studies and press cuttings to ground theory in reality, students and lecturers alike will find this an immensely readable and enriching resource.

Sport may teach people how to win gracefully, but it may also teach them how to win at any cost, even if this involves violence or cheating. To understand the complex relationship between modern sport and other aspects of society, it is necessary to strip away our preconceptions of how sport ought to operate and to examine, in as detached a manner as possible, the way in which sport really operates. Particular issues examined include: Sport, health and public policy; child abuse and sex abuse in sport; conflicts in the role of club medical staff in professional football; doping in sport; sports medicine and the development of performance enhancing drugs; and a case study of cycling and the 1998 Tour de France. Interview transcripts, case studies and press cuttings are used to ground theory into reality. Students and lecturers should find this a useful resource.