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Why do soccer players, or any other athletes, use performance enhancing drugs? The answer is almost invariably this: to improve their personal performance in an effort to win competitions. It seems to be about winning. And athletes, who develop and hone a rock-hard desire to win, will sometimes use less-than-legitimate tactics to do it. Whether it's body building, bicycle racing, or anything else, the differences between the best of the best are, in many cases, very small. And with so little a gap between the number one person and the number two person, the number two person might consider using a performance enhancing drug to bridge that gap. Or the number one person might use them, these performance enhancers, to keep the competition at bay. The differences at the top are so small after all, and the little bit extra gained from doping would make up any perceived shortcomings or allow an athlete to edge out competitors. All the best athletes train to both maintain and improve their performance. They have to. If they didn't, they wouldn't win. They'd lose. And no one likes a loser. We like winners. It is important to convey that, because it is NOT true. It's okay to lose. Though the feeling of winning is unique and almost impossible to top, some of the most wonderfully profound moments in sports are experienced by players who have just lost. And what about winning having used performance enhancers? Aren't they, the enhancers, against the rules? Isn't it cheating to use them? How does it feel to win having cheated to do so? Wouldn't that be a hollow victory? Leave the winner hollow inside? And if the winner who cheated does't think so, isn't he kidding himself? Hasn't he lost the toughest competition he will ever face: the competition inside, the competition with himself? Sports psychology is a quirky thing, and that's probably the area that needs investigation to fully understand the whys and wherefores. This excellent question could result in a book if answered at length. Maybe you'll do the research and write that book.

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17y ago

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