Word: steroidal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Olympic officials are vowing to catch steroid users...
...Being a steroid user may cost an athlete far more than his or her Olympic medal: a growing body of medical evidence indicates that athletes who take steroids have experienced problems ranging from sterility to loss of libido, and the drug has been implicated in the deaths of young athletes from liver cancer and a type of kidney tumor. Steroid use has also been linked to heart disease. "Athletes who take steroids are playing with dynamite," says Robert Goldman, 29, a former wrestler and weight lifter who is now a research fellow in sports medicine at Chicago Osteopathic Medical Center...
Most commonly that something is an anabolic steroid. Many athletes believe that these compounds, which can be derived from the male hormone testosterone or produced synthetically, speed the development of muscle tissue, increase aggressiveness and promote strength. Prescribed in hospitals to promote weight gain among burn victims, surgical patients and others, steroids have long been the training drug of choice for body builders, football players and weightlifters. Injected or swallowed in pill form, the drug does help add weight, but there is no conclusive medical proof that it increases strength. The evidence is mounting, however, that steroids' often irreversible...
Even though such warnings are printed on steroid packaging, some gyms and coaches willingly offer the services of a friendly pharmacist to interested players. Many say they take the drugs to keep up with East bloc competitors, who are widely believed to be using steroids. The user athletes have been getting advice on how to beat the occasional test at meets. Explains Dr. Anthony Daly, medical director for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee: "They used to feel safe if they stopped taking steroids two to three weeks before the test." Not after last week...
...drugs, they competed and risked the official test. Oddly enough, Michels passed the first, confidential screening, reportedly because it was not as complete as the urinalysis conducted later. Michels reportedly told fellow athletes that the technicians awed him by naming the date in April when he had last used steroids and by saying they could also pinpoint the exact dosage. The twelve athletes who fled before facing the test insist that they are not steroid users, but some said that they were worried about urinalysis turning up other, more innocuous substances like caffeine, which are also...