Sociology of sport, alternately referred to as sports sociology, is a sub-discipline of sociology which focuses on sports as social phenomena. It is an area of study concerned with the relationship between sociology and sports, and also various socio-cultural structures, patterns, and organizations or groups involved with sport. This area of study discusses the positive impact sports have on individual people and society as a whole economically, financially, and socially. Sociology of sport attempts to view the actions and behavior of sports teams and their players through the eyes of a sociologist.
Sex verification in sports occurs because eligibility of athletes to compete is restricted whenever sporting events are limited to a single sex, which is generally the case, as well as when events are limited to mixed-sex teams of defined composition. Practice has varied tremendously over time, across borders and by competitive level. Issues have arisen multiple times in the Olympic games and other high-profile sporting competitions, for example allegations that certain male athletes attempted to compete as women or that certain female athletes had intersex conditions perceived to give unfair advantage. The topic of sex verification is related to the more recent question of how to treat transgender people in sports. Sex verification is not typically conducted on athletes competing in the male category because there is generally no perceived competitive advantage for a female or intersex athlete to compete in male categories.
In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) by athletes, as a way of cheating. As stated in the World Anti-Doping Code by WADA, doping is defined as the occurrence of one or more of the anti-doping rule violations set forth in Article 2.1 through Article 2.11 of the Code. The term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of drugs to enhance performance is considered unethical, and is prohibited by most international sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. Furthermore, athletes taking explicit measures to evade detection exacerbate the ethical violation with overt deception and cheating.
The Aryan Games were a proposed replacement for the Olympic Games in Nazi Germany. Proposed by Nazi sports organizer Carl Diem and subsequently adopted by Adolf Hitler, these multi-sport games were supposed to be housed permanently in Nuremberg at the planned "German Stadium", that had been designed by Nazi architect Albert Speer, but was never built.
Arthur Leslie Lydiard was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach. He has been lauded as one of the outstanding athletics coaches of all time and is credited with popularising the sport of running and making it commonplace across the sporting world. His training methods are based on a strong endurance base and periodisation.
Doping in baseball has been an ongoing issue for Major League Baseball (MLB). After repeated use by some of the most successful professional baseball players in MLB history, these banned substances found their way to the collegiate level. At the junior college level, due to lack of funding and NCAA drug testing, the abuse of PEDs is most common, but they are also an issue in Division I, II and III.
Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where banned physical performance-enhancing drugs are used by athletes and bodybuilders. Athletic performance-enhancing substances are sometimes referred to as ergogenic aids. Cognitive performance-enhancing drugs, commonly called nootropics, are sometimes used by students to improve academic performance. Performance-enhancing substances are also used by military personnel to enhance combat performance.
The use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in American football is officially prohibited by virtually every sanctioning body.
Arnd Krüger is a German professor of sport studies. Krüger earned his BA from UCLA in 1967 and his PhD from the University of Cologne in Germany in 1971. He attended UCLA on a track scholarship, was 10 times German champion, and represented West Germany at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the 1500 metres run, where he reached the semi-final. He was one of the first Germans to be honored as All-American for being part of the UCLA Distance Medley Relay which ran faster than the World Record in 1965.
Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are a class of drugs that are structurally related to testosterone, the main male sex hormone, and produce effects by binding to the androgen receptor (AR). Anabolic steroids have a number of medical uses, but are also used by athletes to increase muscle size, strength, and performance.
Since their discovery, anabolic steroids (AAS) have been widely used as performance-enhancing drugs to improve performance in sports, to improve one's physical appearance, as self-medication to recover from injury, and as an anti-aging aid. Use of anabolic steroids for purposes other than treating medical conditions is controversial and, in some cases, illegal. Major sports organizations have moved to ban the use of anabolic steroids. There is a wide range of health concerns for users. Legislation in many countries restricts and criminalizes AAS possession and trade.
The government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted a decades-long program of coercive administration and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, initially testosterone, later mainly anabolic drugs, to its elite athletes. The aim of the program, which began in the 1960s, was to bolster East Germany's state image and prestige by winning medals in international competition such as the Olympic Games. The system was extremely formalised and heavily based on secrecy. Scholars and athletes have noted the pervasiveness of operations, the secrecy surrounding them, and the extent of abuse that athletes suffered because of them. While doping brought East Germany impressive results in sporting events, it was often devastating to the health of the athletes involved.
James Riordan was an English novelist, broadcaster, sports historian, and Russian scholar.
Growth hormones in sports refers to the use of growth hormones for athletic enhancement, as opposed to growth hormone treatment for medical therapy. Human Growth Hormone is a prescription medication in the US, meaning that its distribution and use without a prescription is illegal. There is limited evidence that GH doping improves athletic performance, although the perception that it does is common in the sporting community. Potential side effects of long term GH doping could mirror the symptoms found in sufferers of acromegaly, a disease in which the anterior pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone. These symptoms include swelling of the hands and feet, joint pain, fluid retention, and excessive sweating.
Issues related to race and sports have been examined by scholars for a long time. Among these issues are racial discrimination in sports as well as the observation that there are overrepresentations and underrepresentations of different races in different sports.
Abortion doping is a rumoured practice of purposely inducing pregnancy specifically for athletic performance-enhancing benefits, and then aborting the pregnancy. Rumours and allegations began during international sporting events in the mid-twentieth century, and a number of doctors and scientists have repeated claims about it, but it remains unproven, and is often regarded as a myth.
Doping, or the use of restricted performance-enhancing drugs in the United States occurs in different sports, most notably in the sports of baseball and football.
Ángel Guillermo "Memo" Heredia Hernández is a Mexican former discus thrower and sports coach known for his involvement and expertise in strength and conditioning for the sport of boxing.
The participation of transgender people in competitive sports, a traditionally sex-segregated institution, is a controversial issue, particularly the inclusion of transgender women and girls in women's sports.
The 1936 Summer Olympic Games were hosted in Germany in the National Socialist period, as determined by voting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) between May 1930 and April 1931, two years prior to the rise of the National Socialist German Workers Party to power. Nazi influence in Germany grew strongly after the German Federal Elections in 1932, and in January 1933, Adolf Hitler, the head of the Nazi Party, was appointed Chancellor and soon began to put his antisemitic ideology into practice.
