” “Forced to win

Ethical conduct, self-respect, respect for others and for the rules, hygiene and health are among the educational, health and social values promoted by sport. But these values are being seriously jeopardized or eroded by the ever more widespread practice of doping. Mass sports like football, cycling, athletics, skiing have been plagued by numerous cases of doping in recent years. But many famous and successful athletes, discovered after antidoping controls, seem to be only the tip of an iceberg submerged in the huge world of amateur sportspeople now enslaved to anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. We have tried to analyze the phenomenon of doping to understand the reasons that make people have recourse to it and the risks it entails, and to find out how the laws are trying to curb it. Germany is one of the countries in which the issue of doping is followed with particular attention. After its reunification, Germany inherited the ‘heavy’ legacy of the former DDR (East Germany) where doping was widely practised in sport. We put some questions to Father Michael Kühn , former head of the national Office for sport, tourism and leisure time of the German Episcopal Conference, currently director of the AFJ, the country’s national youth pastoral Service. Kühn was chaplain of the German squad at the last Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (USA). What do you think of the spread of doping? “A mentality of total reliance on medicine has spread not only in sport but in the whole of society. People think that there is a pill or a drug to cure every ailment, every problem. In a society in which performance, beauty and strength count ever more, the temptation of doping to achieve one’s own goals in sport grows. It’s a disastrous mentality that fails to respect one’s own body and one’s own personal limitations”. How, then, can its diffusion be discouraged? “By an alliance between physicians, the pharmaceutical industry, sports associations, State and Church. A powerful campaign of anti-doping information is needed”. After the cases of State-sponsored doping in the former DDR and in the countries of Eastern Europe, what’s the urge that makes an athlete have recourse to performance-enhancing drugs today? “Sport at the national and international level has become big business. The conditions of sportsmen have also been transformed. The athlete must dedicate a great deal of time to training and so he’s forced to turn sport into a full-time profession. Nor should we forget that the pressure on him is all the greater because the period in which he is capable of competing at high levels is limited. And no matter his dedication there’s no guarantee that he will succeed in winning. But he has to earn a living. Sport costs a lot. Life is expensive. So to swindle, and to have a greater certainty of winning, which also means earning big money, some athletes make use of doping. One thing is certain: without specialist medical attention, even within the rules, no athlete today can practice sport at the highest level”. The most famous cycle races like the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France have been plagued by recurrent cases of doping. Does that spell the end of cycling? “Cycling seeks ever more spectacular stages both in the Giro d’Italia and in the Tour de France. The exertions that the athletes have to make in tackling with them are probing the limits of human endurance. The consequence is that the aid of these methods and these drugs is being increasingly sought. Cycling must reflect on the current situation if it is not to be branded as the sport of doping ‘par excellence'”. What are the most important measures in Germany at the present time to crack down on doping? “The most important measure is the establishment of a national antidoping agency similar to the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) which is funded both by the State and by the sports organizations. The agency is independent and athletes are subjected to continuous controls. This is an important first step in the campaign to stamp out doping and preserve the health of athletes”. Patrizia Collesi