Doping can be defined strictly as the consumption of any substance (both food and drug) to improve one's performance. This definition can be applied in a variety of situations, from college students who drink coffee to stay awake to athletes who take steroids to get stronger. The problem with doping is where you draw the line. The drugs used in doping often have harmful effects on both mental and physical health. In the short term these drugs improve performance, but in the long term they can kill. Turning sports into a lifestyle instead of a recreational activity has created fierce competition among athletes to be the best at what they do. Having a “natural ability” is no longer enough. You have to work long, hard hours to gain an advantage over the competition. However, nowadays, even good training cannot guarantee victory. For athletes and coaches the drive to be at the top is so great that they look for shortcuts to reach their ultimate goal: winning. The one who wins is always the one who is remembered in the end; coming second is worse than coming last. When this type of attitude becomes predominant, it is not so surprising that all methods are tried to game the system. In this way, doping has become a common practice for athletes to gain an advantage in competition. Is this a practice that we, as the general public, should accept, or is there something we can do to change the status quo? Doping is a practice that has been going on since the times of "ancient Greek athletes, who supposedly ate herbs, sesame seeds, dried figs, and mushrooms for this purpose" (Hoberman, 1992, 104). Likewise, athletes they readily consumed performance-enhancing drugs such as caffeine and alcohol... middle of the paper... under 24-hour surveillance is neither feasible nor legal when there are more accurate tests it will be possible to enforce the rules and of the regulations on drugs As more and more sophisticated tests come to market, fewer and fewer drugs will escape detection. Given the limited ability of current techniques to catch athletes red-handed, pressure needs to be put on the sporting community to reject Fino until the sporting community rejects doping as a means to an end, little can be done to prevent this from happening. Barnes, Julian (2000). 21 and 28 August Eitzen, D. Stanley. (1999). "Sport is fair, sport is foul." Fir and foul: beyond the myths and paradoxes of sport. Rowman and Littlefield, NY. Hoberman, John M. (1992). “Faster, Higher, Stronger: A History of Doping.” Mortal machines. The Free Press, New York.