Steroid Cheating

The world of sports is a competitive place. In the professional realm, success brings fame and fortune, and athletes train relentlessly to get to the top. It takes a lot of hard work (and a liberal amount of talent) to rise in the ranks, and unfortunately some athletes choose to cut corners to succeed. We’ve all heard of a famous athlete or two busted for cheating, whether that be Lance Armstrong or Alex Rodriguez for using steroids, or Tom Brady for deflating footballs to gain an advantage. Although the most famous scandals involve star athletes, cheating is a problem that extends sometimes down to the least competitive spheres of competition, even to high school athletics. As a cross-country runner, I have witnessed cheating several times
One of the requirements is, unsurprisingly, to run the entire course. This rule is obvious, but it is the one most often broken. A cross-country course is defined by a mowed path, a white line, or both, and in addition includes flags to give runners direction. (Red signifies a left turn, yellow signifies a right turn, and a blue flag means continue straight.) Runners must stay within several feet of the white line, and must go around the corner flags rather than cutting to the inside. Sometimes runners seek to shorten the course illegally through cutting the corner flags and straying from the white line. Although they may seem trivial, cuts like these can, when added together, shorten the distance traveled significantly and cut several seconds off the time it takes to run the course. I have seen numerous instances of this type of cheating, and although I would not be able stop it as it happened, there are several ways in which I could remedy the situation afterwards that would stop it from occurring
Though its consequences are fairly minor, it is nevertheless important because it significantly violates standards of ethical behavior and sportsmanship, and is not fair, truthful, or beneficial to the culture of cross-country running. This behavior ought to be curbed immediately after it happens, both for the sake of other competitors and for the athlete as well. After all, if one is willing to cheat to win on a cross-country course, what else is one willing to cheat on? In competition and in our daily lives, we must keep in mind that cheating, no matter its scope or influence, is never ethical, and we must demonstrate that sentiment to others in our actions, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant those actions may