Doping, a neverending story

Doping in Sport and Finswimming: A Stolen Glory

In the realm of sport, where discipline, perseverance, and fair play are held in the highest regard, doping represents one of the most corrosive and destructive threats. It undermines not only the health of athletes but also the very ethics that form the foundation of sporting competition. Finswimming, a sport that combines technical precision, physical power, and grace, is not immune to this phenomenon. Though less in the media spotlight compared to athletics or cycling, finswimming too faces the risks and consequences of doping. This essay delves into the dark world of performance-enhancing drugs, their harmful effects on the body, their ethical implications, and the emptiness of winning when victory is drug-fueled. In the end, it poses the critical question: when doping is involved, who truly wins—the athlete or the drug?

Understanding Doping in Sport

Doping refers to the use of banned substances or methods that artificially enhance athletic performance. This can include anabolic steroids, erythropoietin (EPO), stimulants, growth hormones, and even blood doping techniques. These substances aim to increase muscle mass, boost endurance, delay fatigue, and sharpen focus—giving the athlete an unfair advantage.

Sports federations, including the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), have established anti-doping codes to preserve fairness and protect athletes’ health. Despite these safeguards, doping continues to plague many sports, sometimes even in hidden corners like finswimming.

The Temptation and the Reality in Finswimming

Finswimming is a highly specialized discipline demanding exceptional cardiovascular fitness, explosive leg strength, and impeccable underwater technique. Athletes spend years perfecting their kick, refining their hydrodynamics, and improving their apnea. The pressure to excel, to break records, to earn national or international glory, can be intense—especially for young athletes on the rise.

It is in this pressure cooker that doping can enter, disguised as a shortcut or a necessary evil to keep up with “the others.” Some athletes might justify their use by convincing themselves that everyone else is doing it, or that the drug is only a temporary boost. But in doing so, they surrender the soul of competition.

Health Consequences of Doping

One of the most immediate and serious dangers of doping is the impact on physical and mental health. Performance-enhancing drugs can have both short-term and long-term effects, some of which are irreversible.

Anabolic steroids, often used to build muscle mass, can lead to liver damage, hormonal imbalances, cardiovascular diseases, infertility, and psychological disorders like aggression and depression. Erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that boosts red blood cell production and is attractive in endurance sports like finswimming, can thicken the blood to dangerous levels, increasing the risk of stroke, heart attack, or pulmonary embolism.

In adolescent athletes—who make up a large portion of competitive finswimming—the dangers are even more alarming. Hormonal interference can stunt growth, disrupt puberty, and damage the development of vital organs.

Moreover, many doping products are obtained illegally or from dubious sources, meaning the athlete often has no real control over the dose or purity. Contamination or overdose can result in sudden medical emergencies or death.

The physical consequences are often accompanied by psychological trauma. Athletes may develop a dependency on the drugs, feel constant fear of being caught, or suffer guilt and self-hatred. The very tools they used to “win” become the shackles that destroy their identity.

Ethics and the Spirit of Sport

Sport is meant to be a celebration of the human spirit—our ability to overcome limits, to test ourselves against others on equal footing, and to strive for excellence through honest work. Doping is the betrayal of all of these ideals.

When an athlete dopes, they don’t just cheat the system or their rivals—they cheat themselves. The hours spent training, the sacrifices made, the journey of growth and self-improvement—all are corrupted. The victory they may achieve no longer reflects who they are or what they’ve done. It becomes a hollow achievement, a trophy for a lie.

Worse still, doping undermines the trust of the fans, the integrity of the sport, and the role model status of top athletes. Young finswimmers watching world champions who later test positive for doping are left disillusioned. Is that what it takes to win? The damage to the sport’s reputation is deep and lasting.

In finswimming, which is still growing in global recognition, maintaining a clean and fair image is vital. Doping scandals can set the sport back by years, damaging its credibility, funding, and Olympic aspirations.

The False Gold: When the Medal Is a Lie

Imagine a finswimmer standing on the top step of the podium, the national anthem playing, a gold medal hanging around their neck. On the surface, it’s a moment of triumph. But if that victory was built on doping, what does the medal actually represent?

Is it the athlete’s discipline and talent—or is it a chemical reaction? Is the applause for the swimmer, or for the lab technician who prepared the banned substance?

A gold medal earned through doping is a counterfeit. It does not celebrate excellence—it hides a deception. It is not proof of greatness—it is evidence of betrayal. The athlete may smile for the cameras, but inside, they must live with the knowledge that the result was not theirs. The drug won, not them.

And what about the clean athletes who trained just as hard but were denied their rightful place? They are the true victims, robbed not only of a medal but of recognition, opportunity, and motivation.

When the Drug Is the Real Champion

This leads us to a philosophical but important question: when doping determines the outcome, who is truly the winner—the athlete, or the drug?

In the purest vision of sport, the winner is the one who trained hardest, overcame challenges, and gave their all within the rules. When performance is chemically enhanced, it’s no longer a contest of ability and willpower. It becomes a contest of pharmacology.

This completely shifts the narrative. It’s no longer about the best swimmer—it’s about the most efficient doping protocol. Science, not skill. Chemistry, not character.

When drugs decide the race, the very definition of “sport” collapses.

The Role of Coaches, Federations, and the Community

Preventing doping is not just the responsibility of the individual athlete. Coaches, sports clubs, national federations, and international bodies all have a duty to educate, monitor, and enforce.

Coaches, especially in youth finswimming, must prioritize athlete well-being over medals. They must set an example and resist the toxic culture of “winning at all costs.” Informed coaching can guide athletes through difficult decisions and help them understand that real progress comes from dedication, not shortcuts.

Federations like CMAS must continue to invest in testing and awareness programs. Transparency, frequent anti-doping campaigns, and severe penalties for violations are essential. However, punishment alone is not enough. There must be a cultural shift that celebrates clean athletes and stigmatizes cheating—not just when they’re caught, but as a principle.

Moreover, parents, fans, and media must also play a role. Instead of worshipping only record-breakers and gold medalists, we should celebrate the athlete who finishes fourth with integrity, who trains year-round without giving in to temptation, who shows that character is more important than the podium.

Conclusion: Choosing the Path of Honor

Doping in sport is a betrayal of everything athletes and fans hold dear. In finswimming, where precision and performance are inseparable, the temptation to enhance results artificially may grow as the sport gains popularity. But we must resist it—individually and collectively.

The health risks are undeniable. The ethical violations are clear. And the meaning of a doped victory is as empty as the medal itself. No matter how fast the time or how high the score, if it was achieved dishonestly, it cannot be admired—it must be condemned.

True victory in sport comes not from shortcuts, but from the slow, painful, and honest journey of improvement. In the water, with a monofin on your feet and a clean heart in your chest, that’s where real champions are made.

So the next time we see a finswimmer on the podium, let’s ask not just how fast they swam, but how honestly they got there. Because in the end, when doping enters the race, it is not the athlete who wins—it is the drug.

And that is a loss for us all.

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