You are viewing a free preview of this lesson.
Subscribe to unlock all 10 lessons in this course and every other course on LearningBro.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) is one of the most significant ethical issues in modern sport. For AQA GCSE PE, you must know seven types of prohibited substance or method, their effects and side effects, which sports they benefit, and the advantages and disadvantages of PED use for the performer and the sport.
Before examining each substance, it is important to understand the motivations behind PED use:
| Reason | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pressure to win | Careers, sponsorship and reputation depend on results |
| Financial rewards | Winning brings higher prize money and more lucrative deals |
| Belief that others are using | Athletes may feel they cannot compete on a level playing field without PEDs |
| Short career window | Athletes have a limited time to earn and achieve, increasing temptation |
| Improved recovery | PEDs can speed recovery from injury or intensive training |
| National pride | State-sponsored doping programmes have pressured athletes to use PEDs |
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| What they do | Increase alertness, reduce fatigue, increase aggression and competitiveness |
| How they work | Speed up the central nervous system, increasing heart rate and reaction time |
| Sports that benefit | Sprinting, cycling, combat sports — any sport requiring bursts of energy and alertness |
| Side effects | Increased heart rate and blood pressure, insomnia, heart failure, addiction, anxiety, aggression |
| Examples | Amphetamines, caffeine (in high doses), cocaine, ephedrine |
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| What they do | Mask pain and injury, allowing athletes to train and compete despite being hurt |
| How they work | Bind to pain receptors in the brain, blocking pain signals |
| Sports that benefit | Any sport where athletes compete with injuries — boxing, rugby, football, gymnastics |
| Side effects | Addiction, nausea, loss of coordination, further injury (because pain is masked), respiratory depression, constipation |
| Examples | Morphine, codeine, methadone |
Exam Tip: A very common exam question asks why narcotic analgesics are dangerous. The key answer is: because they mask pain, the athlete may continue training or competing on an injury, making it much worse. Always explain this chain of reasoning.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| What they do | Increase muscle mass, strength and power; speed up recovery from training |
| How they work | Mimic the effects of testosterone, promoting protein synthesis and muscle growth |
| Sports that benefit | Weightlifting, sprinting, shot put, rugby, bodybuilding — any sport requiring strength and power |
| Side effects | Liver damage, heart disease, mood swings ("roid rage"), acne, infertility, growth of facial hair in women, testicular shrinkage in men |
| Examples | Nandrolone, testosterone, stanozolol |
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| What they do | Increase the number of red blood cells, improving oxygen transport to muscles |
| How they work | EPO is a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production in bone marrow |
| Sports that benefit | Endurance sports — long-distance running, cycling, swimming, cross-country skiing |
| Side effects | Blood thickening (increased viscosity), blood clots, stroke, heart attack, death |
| Examples | Recombinant EPO (rEPO), CERA |
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| What they do | Increase urine production, causing rapid weight loss and helping to flush other drugs from the system |
| How they work | Increase the rate at which the kidneys remove water from the blood |
| Sports that benefit | Sports with weight categories — boxing, judo, horse racing (jockeys); also used as a masking agent to hide other PEDs |
| Side effects | Dehydration, dizziness, muscle cramps, kidney damage, heart irregularities |
| Examples | Furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide |
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it does | Increases red blood cell count, improving oxygen delivery to muscles |
| How it works | The athlete's own blood is removed, stored, and transfused back before competition (autologous transfusion), or someone else's blood is used (homologous transfusion) |
| Sports that benefit | Endurance sports — cycling, marathon running, triathlon, cross-country skiing |
| Side effects | Infection, blood clots, increased blood viscosity, heart failure, allergic reaction (if using someone else's blood) |
| Key scandal | Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service cycling team were found guilty of systematic blood doping |
Subscribe to continue reading
Get full access to this lesson and all 10 lessons in this course.