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My idea of a professional sportsman is a man or woman with a natural ability in the sporting arena. They gain their titles and medals on merit, because they have trained hard and risen to the top. Once you start allowing athletes to take steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, there is no longer a fair playing field.

Frankly, I fail to see the pride in winning because you cheated. Where is the honour? Most professional sportsmen dedicate their lives to reaching their peak, whilst a few rely on enhancements. Unless you allow all parties to take performance-enhancers (which most sportsmen wouldn't want), you might as well cancel the event.

There are steroids that are used for the treatment of injury, such as corticosteriods. These are not the same as performance-enhancers. I think that, provided the steroids are proven for medical use, this may be allowed. Anyone is entitled to treat an injury in order to be able to compete, but not at the expense of all the other sportsmen.

Professional sport is, in some way, a part of everyday life for most people. We have our heroes and our role models. We respect professional sportsmen because of their skill, integrity, dedication and character. We hold them up as examples of the great things the human body can achieve. If steroid use and cheating becomes part of our great sporting tradition, what will we have left? Who will we respect and admire? Not the sportsmen who have cheated.

Sport on a professional level has to be regulated, to ensure all competitors are treated equally. Each sport has its own rules and guidelines. This is all in the pursuit of fair competition. We apply the rules of fair competition to business and marketing, economics and human rights. This is to ensure the rights of everyone. Since you can't force all sportsmen to take steroids, you have to prevent anyone from taking them.

Let us uphold the values and traditions of our sporting society, and maintain the equality of all. Sport plays a huge role both socially and financially, and therefore sporting bodies must act responsibly. We want to teach our children to love the game, not the prospect of winning. It is about taking part, and not about winning. If you can't take part and play under the same rules as everyone else, don't play at all.

Learn more about this author, A Morris.
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