Head to Head: Should We Allow a Doping Free-for-All? - Issue 39: Sport

You could say the job of the sports fan is not only to cheer but to jeer. American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who has been suspended in the past for doping, entered Olympic Stadium before his 100-meter race to resounding boos. Competitors are also a part of the ritual. After winning a gold medal, American swimmer Lilly King wagged her finger to mock her Russian competitor Yulia Efimova, who previously had been suspended for doping. To philosopher Julian Savulescu, the boos and censures ring with, if not outright hypocrisy, short memory spans. "Caffeine is a performance-enhancer," he says. "It used to be banned and now it's allowed." Savulescu, a native Australian, who directs the Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, has been one of the loudest critics in recent years of doping policies. Sports governing bodies have had restrictions in place for decades, he says, and have had little effect. Athletes will always find a way to beat the system, he says, and like most sports fans, Savulescu laments that doping creates an uneven playing field. But unlike most fans, Savulescu thinks the solution is to make doping legal in sports.