March-April 2010

HASTINGS CENTER REPORT

13

Essays

F

rom the steroid scandals of major league baseball
toanalysisofOscarPistorius’scheetahstothesex-
verificationtestofCasterSemenya,questionstoday

aboutwhatconstitutesfairnessinsportsarewide-ranging
andvaried.

It’seasiertoseewhat’sunfairinsports.Supposethat

thejudgesawardtheOlympicfigureskatinggoldmedal
inVancouverbecauseoftheskaters’wackycostumes—all
feathers, sequins, and teasing glimpses of skin. Or that
theychoosebasedontheirviewsontheskaters’countries
of origin, or because they were bribed, or by tossing a
coin.

Alltheseareunfair(andsomehavebeendocumented,

oratleastsuspected,inpastcompetitions).Howdowe
knowthey’reunfair?Becauseeveryonewhounderstands
figureskating—oralpineskiing,orbobsledding,or,for
that matter, baseball, cycling, or any other competitive
sport—knowswhat’ssupposedtoseparatewinnersfrom
also-rans.Amongthecountlessdifferencesbetweencom-
petitors,fromeyecolortofavoritefood,onlycertaindif-
ferences are meant to be highlighted in each particular
sport.

Successful short-track speed skaters possess explosive

strength,finelyhonedtechnique,andthecouragetoface

thepossibilityofseriousinjuryfromrazor-sharpblades.
Nordicskiersmusthaveastonishingstamina.eachsport
calls upon its particular mix of physical talents. every
sport requires the commitment to perfect those talents
and to learn how to employ them skillfully and strate-
gically. It may not be easy to say exactly what fairness
means,buttheeasewithwhichwecancalloutunfairness
suggeststhatthetaskisworthwhileandfarfromhopeless.

A match that should never happen is a one-on-one

basketball game between LeBron James and me.When
LeBron trounces me—as he assuredly will—it may be
uninteresting,probablycomical,perhapsevenYouTube-
able, but it will not be unfair. He is simply a superior
player, not merely to me but probably to every other
person living on this planet. (Kobe Bryant is likely to
disagree.)Theplayingfield,orcourt,islevel.Talentand
dedicationdeterminethewinner.

Thentherearetimeswhenwechoosetoleveltheplay-

ingfieldbymultiplyingit.Inthe2008Paralympicsthere
werethirteendistinctfinalsforthemen’sone-hundred-
meter dash, twelve for the women’s. The varieties and
degrees of impairment among Paralympians in no way
detractfromthetalentsanddedicationthatcompetitors
bringtothegames.Butthevarietyalsorequiresthatthe
playingfieldbemadelevelsothateveryathleteiscom-
petingagainstpeoplewithsimilarlevelsofimpairment.
Inthatway,talentandthemanythingsweadmireabout
dedicatedathletesareondisplayandshapeeachathlete’s
performance.

Thefirstthingtonoteisthatafairsportscompetition

doesnotrequirethatathletesbeequalineveryimagin-
ablerespect.Somebasketballplayersaretaller,stronger,
quicker,ormoreagilethanothers.Noone—well,almost
no one—regards such differences in natural talents as
unjust or unfair. Some have better coaches or more fa-
vorable training environments. At what point such dif-
ferencescrossthelinefrominevitableandacceptableto
iniquitousanddeplorableissomethingtobedebatedand
settledbythepeoplewhoparticipatein,understand,and
lovethatsport—notbydistantanddisinterestedphiloso-
phers.Debatessuchasthisgoonregularlyinsportsover
newequipment,rules,strategies,andthelike.Takethe
recentkerfuffleoverthesuper-slippery,buoyantfull-body

MakingSenseof

FairnessinSports

BY THOMAS H. MuRRAY

ThomasH.Murray,“MakingSenseofFairnessinSports,”Hastings Center

Report40,no.2(2010):13-15.

C

heating evolves constantly. Dozens of athletes were barred from the Winter Olympics

for taking banned substances. Gene doping is on the horizon. Questions have arisen

about which athletes count as “female.” What does it take to keep sports fair?

And what does fairness require?

14

HASTINGS CENTER REPORT

March-April 2010

swimsuits.Afterinitialdithering,theFédérationInternatio-
naledeNatation(FINA)—theinternationalgoverningbody
forswimming—lastyearbannedmanysuitsonthegrounds
thattheychangedthenatureofthesportbyallowingbulky
athletes to float on top of the water rather than having to
push through it. Whatever one thinks of FINA’s ruling, it
wasrighttofocusonthemeaningofthesportandonwhat
characteristicsleadtoexcellenceandsuccess.

Then again, the most gifted, hardest-working athlete or

teamdoesnotalwayswin.Arandombounce,aslip,ahesita-
tioncangivevictorytothesidethatmightlosenineoften
matches.That’swhyweplaythegame.

When it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, gene

doping, and the panoply of
manipulations banned wide-
ly in sports, the challenge
is less about fairness than
about meaning. If the rules
ban performance-enhancing
drugs,thenusingthosedrugs
to gain an advantage over
athletes who refuse to cheat
is unfair. Simple enough.
Antidoping skeptics, how-
ever,oftenproclaimthatthe
problemisn’twiththedrugs,
but with the ban on drugs.
It would be fairer, they ar-
gue, to give all competitors
access to the same drugs. If
everyonehadamplesupplies
of anabolic steroids, eryth-
ropoietin, growth hormone,
or whatever drugs boosted
performance in their sport, then—they claim—unfairness
wouldbeeliminatedalongwiththenuisancesofdrugtest-
ing,adjudication,andenforcement.

One response to the skeptics is to ask a different ques-

tion:Isitnotunfairtoputtheathleteswhowanttocompete
withoutdrugsorgenedopingatacompetitivedisadvantage
bypermittingeverything—totilttheplayingfieldinfavorof
thedrugusers?

Any serious ethical commentary on the uses of perfor-

mance-enhancing technology in sports must confront two
compellingrealities.First,sportssciencehasprovidedagreat
dealofinformationabouthowtooptimizetrainingandper-
formance. It has also led to a plethora of technologies and
methods to enhance performance, from altitude chambers
thatallowathletestogainthebenefitsof“traininglow,living
high,”toice-filledvestsrunnerscanwearbeforealongrace
tocooltheircoretemperatures,toesotericmeasurementsof
muscleandorganfunction.Why,theskepticsask,shouldwe
distinguish between these technologies of performance en-
hancementontheonehandanddrugslikesteroidsonthe
other?

Part of the answer to this challenge is to recognize that

sports are about what can be accomplished under specific
limitations.Soccerplayers,otherthangoaltenders,maynot
use their hands or arms to direct the ball, even when that
wouldbefarmoreconvenientandaccuratethanone’sfootor
head.Golfimposesstrictlimitsonballsandclubs.Marathon
runnersmaynotusewheels,whetherattachedtotheirshoes
or,asRosieRuizdid,tosubwaycars.

The other piece of the answer requires an understand-

ingofwhatthatparticularsportvalues.Whatmakesagreat
weightlifter does not make a great distance runner. Bodies
thatpossessmassiveexplosivestrengtharerarelythelithe,sin-
ewybodiesbestsuitedtorungreatdistances.Thelimitations

each sport chooses for itself
reflectasharedunderstanding
ofwhatthatsportismeantto
displayandreward.Therules
of sports are arbitrary in the
sensethattheycouldbeoth-
erwise,and,inpractice,sports
modifytheirrulesinresponse
tochangesinequipment,tac-
tics,andathletes’abilities.But
inanothersense,therulesand
thechangeswroughtinthem
are far from arbitrary: they
must pass muster with the
communityofthosewhoplay
andlovethatsport.Thecom-
munitymustbesatisfiedthat
thenewruleskeepalivewhat
itvalues,whatnaturaltalents
enable athletes to excel, and
what,intheend,ismeaning-

fulaboutparticipatingandwinning.

Thesecondrealityistheineluctablycomparativenature

of sports. Athletes compete against other athletes.Winners
andlosersmaybeseparatedbyfractionsofasecond.Adrug
thatgivesa1or2percentperformanceboostcanbedecisive.
When some athletes use such technologies, all athletes feel
thepressuretousethem,merelytoavoidlosingground.So
thenotionthatweshouldjustleaveituptoeachathleteto
decidewhethertousedrugsisnaive.Whenthelidisblown
off,allathleteswillfeelthepressuretodope.

Oneproposedsolutionistocontinuetobansomedrugs—

thosedeemedtobeparticularlyharmful—butallowathletes
freereigntouseallothers.Considerwhatislikelytohappen.
We’llcontinuetoneeddrugtestingandenforcementtodeter
athletesfromusingthesubstancesonthebannedlist,soall
thecomplaintsabouttheinconvenienceandintrusivenessof
testingwillremain.Andnowathleteswillfeelpressuredto
take ever more drugs, often at higher dosages, in untested
and possibly dangerous combinations. It’s hard to see that
scenarioasprogress.

Whether performance-enhancing drugs or gene doping

shouldbepermittedinsportsis,intheend,amattertobe

Is it not unfair to put

the athletes who want to

compete without drugs at a

competitive disadvantage by

permitting everything—to

tilt the playing field in favor

of the drug users?

March-April 2010

HASTINGS CENTER REPORT

15

decidedbythecommunitiesofathletesandthosewhoun-
derstandandloveeachsport.Thedynamicsofcompetition
meanthat,ifdopingwerepermitted,athleteswouldconfront
aterriblechoice:refrainfromdrugsandgiveupanedgethat
willoftenbedecisive,orjoininanever-risingspiralofdrug
use. I fear a public health catastrophe in the making if we
choosethesecondpath.Ialsowouldgrieveforallthoseath-
letes who desire to compete without doping but who will
mostlylosetotheirpharmacologicallyampedcompetitors.

Openingthedoorsofsportstodrugusewillalsoaccel-

eratethedominanceofdopinggurusovertheathleteswho
succumbtotheirsalespitches.Anathlete’sperformancewill
becomemoreandmoreafunctionofexpertmanipulations,
andlessoftheathlete’stalentsordedication.Icannotseethat
asagoodthingforathletes,forsports,orforallofuswho
careaboutthem.

F

or several intertwined reasons, our lives have spread
acrossthesportofpowerlifting—atypeofcompetitive
weightliftingthatincludesthesquat,thebenchpress,

andthedeadlift—forthepasthalfcentury.Oneofus,Terry,
wonthesuperheavyweightclassinthefirstnationalchampi-
onships.Theotherone,Jan,setanationalrecordatthefirst
women’s championships and went on to set world records
overfivebodyweightdivisions.Bothofushavecoachedna-
tionalandworldrecordholders,coachednationalteamsin

worldchampionships,writtenmanydozensofarticlesonthe
sportforthepopularpress,donecolorcommentaryforna-
tionaltelevisionnetworks,andbeenelectedtohallsoffame
inthesport.

Duringourtimeinpowerliftingwe’veseenthecomingof

anabolicsteroidsandrelatedsubstances,theentryofwomen
intothesport,itsgradualoutwardmovementintocountries
around the world, and its unprecedented fractionalization
into a Babel of federations riven by rancor regarding stan-
dardsofperformance,costumes,and—aboveallelse—drugs.
Our unique vantage point, located sometimes inside and
sometimesjustoutsidethebellyofthebeast,hasallowedus
tobethere,likeForrestGump,whenthingshappenedthat
werewonderful,horrible,orbothatthesametime.Below,
eachinhisorherownvoice,we’vetriedtoshareabitofwhat
we’veseen.

Terry: Ironbound

I

n 1996, the American weightlifter Mark Henry trained
withusatoursummerhomeonIronbound,aremoteis-

landoffthecoastofNovaScotia.Weinvitedhimtocomeso
hecouldescapethemediadrawntohisfour-hundred-pound
body,hisequallyoutsizedpersonality,andhisoutspokencrit-
icismofthelackofeffectivedrugtestinginasportwhichhad
sustainedmorepositiveteststhananyotherOlympicevent.
Notunexpectedly,however,afewwell-heeledTVpeopleper-
sisted,makingtheefforttoreachourretreat.

The “talent” for one media contingent, after the usual

song and dance, approached the drug issue via a different
path, asking, “Mark, do you ever wonder how much you
couldliftifyoutookthesamedrugsastheothertopmen?”
Markhesitatedforjustamoment,andthensaidinawist-
fulvoicesomethingI’dneverheardhimsay:“No.ButIdo
wonderaboutonething.Iwonderhowmuchtheycouldlift
iftheydidn’t.”

Jan: Lamar

I

ntheearly1980s,wehelpedthepowerlifterLamarGant
findajobatalocalequipmentmanufacturernearus,and

Terrybegantocoachhim.“CoachingLamarwaseasy,”Terry
hasoftensaid,“sincehewasalreadythegreatestlifterthesport
haseverseen.”Adiminutivemanwithagiant’sstrength,La-
martrainedwiththepowerliftingteamatAuburnUniversity,
ateamwecoached.Webelieved,forreasonstoocomplicated
to address here, that Lamar was lifetime drug-free and, as
such,anidealrolemodelforouryounglifters,oneofwhom
wasTerryPtomey,auniquelytalentedundergraduate.

She and Lamar became friends, and he helped me as I

workedwithherduringtherun-uptothenationalwomen’s
championshipsIwaspromoting.Hishelpwasimportantbe-
causePtomey’sopponentwasoneofthefirstwomeninthe
sportwhousedanabolicsteroidsandmadelittleattemptto
hideeitherherdruguseorherdisdainforthosewhochoseto
remaindrug-free.

Scenesfromthe

FrontLines

BY JAN AND TERRY TODD

JanandTerryTodd,“ScenesfromtheFrontLines,”Hastings Center Report40,

no.2(2010):15-18.

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