In response to Rebecca Webbs post on Cheating In Sport

http://beckysblog16.blogspot.com/2009/04/cheating-in-sports.html#comments

I think cheating is always going to be a big temptation to athletes at the top of individual sports. It is a very sad situation that we are in at the moment where so many of our sports have to be considered unfair due to so many athletes cheating. We all want to see fair competition and worthy winners and it is a disgrace to everyone involved, particularly the supporters and sponsors who put in a lot of time and effort in following their team/individual athlete.

But it is easy to understand why cheating is so popular. The rewards nowadays are huge in many sports, millions and millions of pounds often on offer for victory and for competitors, failure is simply unthinkable. Cheating, maybe through performance-enhancing drugs/methods or influencing a game through simulation can give an athlete or team that increased chance of winning. To competitors under such huge pressure, sometimes they can't turn away from such an opportunity.

I very much understand why people cheat but I wish the authorities would make more of an effort to eradicate it and put in stricter punishments to take the temptation away from competitors. Examples for this could be to send off footballers who dive and fake injury or to give sprinters life-time bans for performance-enhancing drug use.