Graeme Lancefield, the president of the National Amateur Body Builders Association (NABBA), defended the use of anabolic steroids in bodybuilding competitions in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. Lancefield believes steroid use in bodybuilding is a “choice of lifestyle” that should be left up to the individual.
”The bodybuilding competitions are a show and the athletes are performers. People want to go and see freaks. It’s like going to the circus. Bodybuilding competitions are more of a freak show than anything else,” according to Lancefield.
Lancefield not only recognizes that bodybuilding is not a mainstream sport but even argues that bodybuilding is not a sport all. Bodybuilding is more ‘entertainment’ than ‘sport’ and more like a ‘circus’ than a legitimate sport.
“Everyone training with weights in a gym is bodybuilding to a degree, it is only the ignorant and ill-informed that refer to bodybuilding as ‘sport’,” according to Lancefield in an interview in Hardcore Aussie Muscle.
NABBA does not explicitly condone the use of anabolic steroids in competition. However, if one accepts that bodybuilding is not a sport, perhaps competitors should not be expected to undergo anti-doping testing any more than circus performers or entertainers in any other non-sports-related profession.
Sources:
White, S. (July 31, 2011). All Pumped Up, But Tell Us How? Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/all-pumped-up-but-tell-us-how-20110730-1i5cd.html
Hopkins, J. (February 24, 2011). Graeme Lancefield. Retrieved from http://www.bodybuilders.com.au
