During the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Canadian Ben Johnson beat American "Golden Boy" Carl Lewis to the gold in the 100 meters sprint, the games' premiere event, only to be disqualified three days later when traces of stanozolol (Winstrol) were found in his urine. Johnson admitted to his steroid use, his records were deleted from the books, and he was suspended from the sport.
After a successful pro football career from 1971 to 1985, LA Raiders defensive lineman Lyle Alzado was the first American Football player to admit to the use of anabolic steroids after he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He claimed that his steroid abuse had caused the disease. Alzado died in 1992 at only 43.
According to Bryant Gumbel and his HBO Real Sports team, these two incidences were the catalysts that made steroid usage the #1 menace that it is today.
In 2000, the writers of the book, The Adonis Complex, claimed that steroid usage can result in serious mood swings, nothing more. In grown men the only side effects ever officially attributed to steroids are acne, breast tenderness, hair loss and an increase in badcholesterol. There have been no long terms studies, and no definitive deaths linked to steroid use.
Before the 1988 Olympics Carl Lewis tested positive three times for banned substances (pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine).
Alzado's own doctors announced that there was no known connection between the cancer and the steroid usage.
Both the DEA and AMA were resistant to administration insistence that steroids become controlled substances.
Hmmmmm!
3 comments:
What puzzles me is that if steroids are bad for you why do doctors prescribe it. Furthermore, there has never been any studies done to test whether steroid use has damaging effects. This video confirms what I have believed for a long time, steroids used by educated, trained and healthy adults have no damaging effects.
But like any substance, it has its potential for abuse.
The Real Sports piece was a life saver for me. The BF and best friend went postal when they'd discovered my "choice" and were convinced I was going to destroy my body. That segment and my challenge to go find a definitive medical study that proved that steroids, properly used, were harmful was enough to make them both chill out.
I blame ignorance and the media for the bad rep that anabolics have at present. These supplements have been around since the 50's and then when one baseball player, football star or bodybuilder gets hurts or busted, then suddenly everyone jumps on the bandwagon of pointing fingers.
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