Doping and the logic of choice

Abstract

When an athlete uses anabolic steroids to increase his athletic performance, it is observed that a set of practices and speeches try to attribute to him an exclusive responsibility for consumption. In this article, we will discuss the cases of two Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters convicted for doping, with whom the authors have had contact. The contact lasted for six months, at two specialized academies in the city of São Paulo, in the year 2014. The methodology of this study consists in a praxiographic analysis, based on the Actor-Network Theory (TAR). In this work, we intend to deconstruct the logic of "individual choice" by the use of doping, by which the athlete is positioned as the sole responsible for the consumption.