ia personalities.Financial and material rewardsFinancial and material rewards are major influences on athletes and sporting performance. Sport, which was once an activity to fill in leisure time, has now become a way to earn a living for some of our elite athletes. In recent times people have commented that money-making principles have begun to replace athletes' moral principles. Enormous salaries, product endorsements and potential careers outside of the sporting field are some of the rewards available to the successful athlete. Rewards are also available to athletes at lower levels of competition and to those in amateur sport. Even at junior levels, inducements such as scholarships are a significant incentive, and can increase the pressure to achieve. (Rosentraub)National/political/ideologicalSuccessful athletes at the highest level are sometimes elevated to the position of hero and carry the pressures of national honor and pride with them. Countries also use their athletes as political weapons. In international competition, one country's sporting successes over another country are often viewed as proof of ideological or national superiority. Such is the case in the Olympic games, where enormous emphasis is placed on the number of gold medals won by a country, with even greater pressure being placed on the host country. (4)Final ThoughtsIn conclusion I would like to mention that with all of this information it really has given me a different view of athletics. Particularly at the lower levels, I think writing this paper has caused me to judge each and every athlete. It is almost impossible to tell visually if an athlete is taking drugs. Currently there are no tests for high school athletes and very few tests for college athletes, especially the Div. III and Div. II schools. I cannot see this problem dissolving anytime in the near future but there is always hope. I feel that the only truly clean athletes are those children who are...
