ABSTRACT
Doping stands near the pinnacle of the hierarchy of infractions that relevant audiences, particularly sports organization officials, consider sanctionable offenses; a judgment by such an organization that a competitor has used an illicit substance to boost on-the-field performance can effectively terminate an athletic career. To the matter at hand, defining sports doping is the result of deciding which of the many available sports technologies are illicit– and hence, are instances of ‘doping’. Innovation entails the actor accepting the goal of success but employing an illicit means of acquiring that goal. And innovation is the heart and soul of sports doping. Sensationalistic sports doping stories that appear in supermarket tabloids resonate with the public typically only when a celebrity athlete is involved. Some observers believe that doping has been defined as deviant for moral, not medical, reasons and punishing it with extreme measures is unfair and counterproductive.
