Anabolic Steroids In Sports

Introduction

In 776 BC the ancient Greeks would eat animal hearts and testicles, followed by drinking wine potions and using hallucinogens. This was the first form of performance enhancing drugs (PEDS). Over the year’s scientist have developed other PEDs that are not wine or hallucinogens. Stanozolol the most used drug, and most popular anabolic steroid ever made, has been linked to professional athletes for many years. , , Stanozolol has many serious side effects including; an allergic reaction, swelling of the arms or legs especially ankles, frequent or persistent erections or breast tenderness or enlargement and voice changes, hair loss, facial hair growth, clitoral enlargement or menstrual irregularities. The argument of whether performance-enhancing

Anabolic androgenic steroids are synthetic variations of the male sex hormone testosterone. Anabolic refers to building of the muscle in humans; androgenic refers to increased male sex characteristics. Although Anabolic androgenic steroids are the most commonly used PEDS there are more than just this one. Procon.com has published a detailed table using information from the world anti-doping agency, showing 192 banned PEDS and the pro’s and con’s of each drug. In the 20th century PEDS grew from their Olympic games origin of being wine and bull testicles to anabolic steroids. The Nazis first used anabolic steroids by testing them on concentration camp prisoners. The first effective PEDS were amphetamines, which were introduced to the world during WW2 and used by soldiers from the American, British and Japanese armies . During the 50’s and 60’s amphetamines were used heavily in cycling . In 1967, British cyclist Tom Simpson was the first death caused by amphetamines in sports. Tom, regarded as Britain's best cyclist of all time, died on the 13th stage of the tour de France. Riding up the ascent of Mont Ventoux, he collapsed and even though nurses tried to resuscitate him they were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead due to heart failure from exhaustion . A post mortem then revealed he was using heavy amounts of

Rarely does the media cover the positive effects of performance enhancing drugs. In 1998 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson broke the 100 meter sprint record in the Olympics in Seoul. Three weeks later he was then found to be taking PEDS. Ben Johnson is only 5’8 and weighs 75 kg and is considered as a little man, but he was pure muscle. Scientist has confirmed that steroids increase the rate of protein synthesis allowing the body to grow muscle tissue faster than the normal rate. This helps athletes to build muscle in short periods of time, which is why the athletes who take steroids look so much bigger than the normal clean athletes. Blood doping is another form of performance enhancing drug that has both positive and negative affects to the human body. Athletes use synthetic oxygen carriers to achieve better performance in long duration sports like cycling . These drugs increase oxygen in the blood helping to fuel muscles. The positive effects of blood doping are that it helps endurance athletes train longer or perform at a higher level for longer periods of time . All performance-enhancing drugs have some negative effects to the human