Sigmund Loland

Fair Play in Sport: A Moral Norm System

Introduction. Part One - Research Area and Research Questions Introduction. Sport Competitions. Fair Play - Background and Definitions. Summary - Research Area. Research Question. Part Two - Basis for A Rational Morality Introduction. Basis for A Rational Morality. Establishing a Hypothetical Ethical Contract Situation. Specifying the Contract Situation. Summary Part Two. Part Three - Right Sport Competitions - Fairness Introduction. Just Sport Competitions. Summary Part Three. Part Four - Good Sport Competitions - Play Introduction. Good Sport Competitions - A Utilitarian Calculus. Summary Part Four. Part Five - Fair Play in Sport Competitions - A Moral Norm System. Notes. References. Epilogue.

Elite athletes' duty to provide information on their whereabouts: justifiable anti-doping work or an indefensible surveillance regime?

Abstract In this article, we explain and reflect critically upon the athlete whereabouts reporting system in top-level sports initiated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This system makes it compulsory for athletes who are in a registered testing pool in their national and/or international federation to submit information about their whereabouts. In this way, athletes are required to be available for a no advance notice doping test throughout the year. If an athlete provides incorrect information or cannot be found when a no advance notice test is supposed to be taken (a missed test), he or she may be given a warning. In most sports and national anti-doping regulations, three such warnings within 18 months may be regarded as a violation of the doping regulations and may lead to exclusion from sport for between 3 months and 2 years. The system is controversial. In this article, we examine the key objections to the system and, more specifically, objections connected to ideas of justice and athletes’ autonomy and right to self-determination. The argument will be a practical ethical one informed by a survey on attitudes towards the whereabouts system carried out among 236 athletes belonging to the registered testing pool in Norway. We conclude that if the basic principles of anti-doping work are accepted, WADAs whereabouts reporting system represents nothing other than an efficient extension of this work.

Justifying anti-doping: The fair opportunity principle and the biology of performance enhancement

Abstract Doping is a complex moral and scientific dilemma and its prevention has led to a costly but less than perfect control system implemented worldwide by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA). For a substance or method to be considered for the WADA Prohibited List, three criteria must be met: (1) the substance or method has the potential to enhance, or enhances, sport performance; (2) use of the substance or method represents an actual or potential health risk to the athlete; and (3) use of the substance or method violates the “spirit of sport”. The “spirit of sport” is defined as “the celebration of the human spirit, body and mind” and explained with reference to a series of ideal values: ethics, fair play, and honesty; health; excellence in performance; character and education; fun and enjoyment; teamwork; dedication and commitment; respect for rules and laws; respect for self and other participants; courage; community and solidarity. These values do not lend themselves to clear-cut interpretation and are of little help in drawing unambiguous lines in concrete cases. A proposal is made of how to interpret the “spirit of sport” in more precise ways in terms of a combination of the fair opportunity principle and a biological and evolutionary understanding of athletic performance as a result of the systematic utilization of the phenotypic plasticity of the human organism. The argument is that such understanding improves significantly the possibilities for drawing of lines when it comes to doping issues.

Technology in sport: three ideal-typical views and their implications.

This paper examines various kinds of sport technology from the perspective of three normative theories of competitive sport. Sport technology represents a certain type of means to realize human interests and goals in sport. Such technology ranges from body techniques, via traditional sport equipment used by athletes within competition, to performance-enhancing machines, substances, and methods used outside of the competitive setting. Any critical and systematic discussion of sport technology in competitive sport should relate to some kind of interpretation of the main constituent of these practices: athletic performance. The paper discusses three ideal-typical theories in this respect. The first possibility presented is the so-called non-theory. As the term indicates, the non-theory is no real theory of performance. Rather, it is a theory of how sport can serve as a means towards external goals such as prestige and profit. In technological terms, the non-theory is relativistic; it accepts any kind of sport technology as long as it serves as a means to reach external goals. The second theory of performance is the thin theory. The thin theory builds on a particular sport ideal: CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS. Sport is considered an arena for the testing out of the performance potential of the human body. To end up with valid and reliable tests, performance measurements have to be accurate, and the thin theory requires equal opportunity in competitions. The implication for technology is increased demand on standardization. However, the thin theory implies no regulation outside of competition. An acceptable technology is simply a performance-enhancing technology. A third, thick theory of performance does not just require equality of opportunity; its basic premise is that sport should be an arena for moral values and for human self-development and flourishing. Technology that requires athletic efforts and skills, to which there is equal access, and that does not represent unnecessary risk for harm, is considered not merely as acceptable but as constitutive to the value in sport. Expert-administrated technology that enhances performance without athletic effort or which exposes athletes to the risk of harm is problematic and should be avoided. In a final, critical comparison, it is argued that the thick theory represents the only possibility towards a sound ethics of technology in sport.

Harmonization of anti-doping work: myth or reality?

In order to examine the implementation of the World Anti Doping Agencys (WADA) policy of global harmonization of anti-doping work, a survey was conducted among the members of the Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations (ANADO). It was revealed that in many countries, the Code was not implemented in accordance with the prescribed policy, with regard to (i) the requirement on national anti-doping organizations (NADOs) having a registered testing pool, (ii) the requirements of availability for testing of the athletes, and (iii) the requirements on sanctions. Only 23 of the 32 NADOs in the sample had a registered testing pool, only 11 NADOs required availability for testing every day, and one in five NADOs did not have any procedures for dealing with athletes who had not provided information about their whereabouts. Further, two in five did not count an incomplete test as a missed test, although this is WADAs definition. WADAs goal is harmonized anti-doping work. The implementation of anti-doping policy is challenging and is to a certain extent underpinned by processes of globalization. Even among NADOs that are considered to be among the global frontrunners in the struggle against doping significant variations exist. There is reason to believe that the global picture is even more diverse. One of WADAs key challenges is to define clearly and in operational terms which rules and sanctions are to be uniform and globally implemented, and which regulations can be open to interpretation depending on economic and socio-cultural contexts.

Attitudes towards use of performance-enhancing substances and body modification techniques. A comparison between elite athletes and the general population

Medical and technological developments open up new possibilities for modifying the body and enhancing performance in various areas of life. This study compares attitudes among Norwegian elite athletes (n = 234) with attitudes in the general population (n = 428). Whereas vitamins, nutritional supplements and hypoxic rooms were accepted by more than 65% of both athletes and population the rejection of EPO, anabolic steroids and amphetamines were similarly clear in both groups. The athletes were in general more reluctant to use performance enhancement means and body modification techniques than the general population. A significantly higher percentage of the population than the athletes accepted a) means to avoid memory failure in old age (61.6 versus 43.2, sig. 0.000), b) means to avoid decrease in physical fitness among old people (48.6 versus 34.7, sig. 0.005), c) liposuction (30.1 versus 12.4, sig. 0.000), d) surgery for obesity (15.3 versus 9.4, sig. 0.035), e) silicon implants (9.9 versus 5.1, sig. 0.001). The athletes were significantly more satisfied with their bodies than the population (sig. 0.000). Males were more positive about the use of performance enhancement means, whereas females were more positive about body modification techniques. Males were significantly more positive about the use of a) means that increase strength and endurance (sig. 0.002, and b) means that increase sexual performance (sig 0.000). Females were significantly more positive than males about the use of liposuction (sig. 0.000), plastic surgery on the face (sig. 0.013), surgery to combat obesity (sig. 0.000) and silicon implants (sig. 0.000).

Pain and Injury in Sport : Social and Ethical Analysis

Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Section I Pain and Injury in Sports: Three Overviews 1 The Sociology of Pain and Injury in Sport: Main Perspectives and Problems Martin Roderick 2 Sport and the Psychology of Pain Kirsten Kaya Roessler 3 Three Approaches to the Study of Pain in Sport Sigmund Loland Section II Pain, Injury and Performance 4 The Place of Pain in Running John Bale 5 Pains and Strains on the Ice: Some thoughts on the Physical and Mental Struggles of Polar Adventurers Matti Goksoyr 6 Injured Female Athletes: Experiential Accounts from England and Canada Hannah Charlesworth and Kevin Young Section III The Deliberate Infliction of Pain and Injury 7 Sport and the Systematic Infliction of Pain: a Case Study of State Sponsored Mandatory Doping in East Germany Giselher Spitzer 8 Pain and Injury in Boxing: The Medical Profession Divided Ken Sheard 9 The Intentional Infliction of Pain in Sport: Ethical Perspectives Jim Parry Section IV The Management of Pain and Injury 10 Sports Medicine: A very Peculiar Practice? Doctors and Physiotherapists in Elite English Rugby Union Dominic Malcolm 11 Ethical Problems in the Medical Management of Sports Injuries: a Case Study of English Professional Football Ivan Waddington 12 The Ontology of Sports Injuries and Professional Medical Ethics Yotam Lurie 13 The Role of Injury in the Organization of Paralympic Sport P. David Howe Section V The Meaning of Pain and Injury 14 Suffering in and for Sport: Some Philosophical Remarks on a Painful Emotion Mike McNamee 15 Pain, Suffering and Paradox in Sport and Religion Jeffrey P. Fry

Olympic Sport and the Ideal of Sustainable Development

In its ambition of being a global, universalist, and ethically responsible institution, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognized the need for the Olympic Movement to engage in protection of the environment. This is a response to an arising public awareness of global ecological challenges linked to the needs of an exponentially increasing human population on an earth with limited natural resources. More specifi cally, a key inspiration of the IOC environment initiative seems to be the signing of the so-called Rio declaration by most nations in the world at the 1992 United Nations ̓Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since the Centennial Olympic Congress in Paris in 1994, ecological concern has been one of IOCʼs “essential missions.” In Rule 2, Paragraph 13, of the Olympic Charter, it is said that one of the key roles of the IOC is to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport, and require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly. In 1995, the IOC established the Sport and Environment Commission with an advisory and coordinative function. Basically, the Commission has as its objectives

Morality, Medicine, and Meaning: Toward an Integrated Justification of Physical Education.

What are the values of physical education (PE)? What is its meaning and possible significance to the individual and society? Should PE be part of a standard curriculum in the education of the young? If so, why? These questions are calls for a justification of PE, which is a socio-cultural construction created by people for people and on the basis of particular human goals and values. Reflection over such views is the topic of this paper. More specifi cally, the paper presents a critical review of what can be considered three ideal-typical justifications of PE: the justifications from morality, health, and meaning. In a final section, a proposal is made for an integrated justification restating and relating these justifications into a consistent whole.

The Varieties of Cheating—Comments on Ethical Analyses in Sport[1]

With rule violations as the practical case, the study presents a critical discussion of various approaches to sport ethics. In the first section, tentative distinctions are proposed between unintentional and intentional rule violation, and, within the latter category, between various forms of cheating and so-called tactical or professional fouls. The second section provides a critical review of the various positions towards intentional rule violations found in the literature on sport ethics. A basic distinction is drawn between contextualist and cognitivist approaches. The conclusion argues for the need for a revised cognitivist approach to sport ethics.