Why are fiberglass vaulting poles and hinged skates accepted in sport -
while performance-enhancing drugs are forbidden? Are the rules that
forbid them arbitrary? Should we level the playing field by allowing all
competitors to use drugs that allow them to run faster or longer, leap
higher, or lift more? In this provocative exploration of what draws us
to sport as participants and spectators, Thomas Murray argues that the
values and meanings embedded within our games provide the guidance we
need to make difficult decisions about fairness and
performance-enhancing technologies.
Good Sport reveals what we really care about in sport and how the
reckless use of biomedical enhancements undermines those values.
Implicit in sports history, rules, and practices are values that provide
a sturdy foundation for an ethics of sport that celebrates natural
talents and dedication. You see these values when the Paralympics
creates multiple level playing fields among athletes with different
kinds of impairments. They appear again in sports struggles to be fair
to all when an extraordinary woman athlete emerges who appears to
possess a mans hormone profile and muscles. They are threatened when the
effort to assure athletes a fair chance to win without doping is
subverted by cheating or by corruption, as in the case of Russias
state-supported doping operation.
Performance-enhancing drugs distort the connection between natural
talents, the dedication to perfect those talents, and success in sport.
Explaining the fundamental role of values and meanings, Good Sport
reveals not just what we champion in the athletic arena but also, more
broadly, what we value in human achievement.
