Expert Views on the Causes and Solutions of the Doping Issue in Turkey’s Sports

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the research is to deal with the causes and solutions of increasing doping issues in Turkey’s sports in compliance with the view of experts.

Methods: In this qualitative research, a purposeful sampling technique was used to identify the thirteen experts that were asked to be interviewed for the project. After a comprehensive literature review, the semi-structured questions were prepared for the interviews. The three questions were regarding the causes of the doping issue in Turkey’s sports, the possible solutions, and the actors who are supposed to deal with the so-called problem. The individual interviews were carried out between August of 2018 and April of 2019 in İzmir and İstanbul, and tape-recorded with prior permission of the participants. Data obtained from the interviews were evaluated by descriptive content analysis.

Results: Upon descriptive content analysis, five main categories were identified about the doping issue in Turkey’s sports. They are, in turn, lack of a proper education, extremely high awards, sport culture, inadequate doping control mechanisms, and bad sport management in Turkey.

Conclusion: The doping issue in Turkey’s sports can be solved with common struggle of state institutions. With this regard, the athletes, sport managers, coaches and teachers should have an extensive education about the harms and moral issues of doping use. Furthermore, the number of doping controls should be raised; high monetary awards should be leveled to reasonable amounts, in assignments of sport managers proper competency should be regarded, and there should be a mechanism controlling the relationships between athletes and coaches.

Cite this article as: Tarakcioglu S. Expert views on the causes and solutions of the doping issue in Turkey’s sports. Turk J Sports Med. 2020;55(2):156-64.