A BRIEF HISTORY OF PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS
Ancient Greece:
Ancient Olympics: In preparation for the Olympics, participants were to train and eat nothing but cheese and water, but it became widely known that the Spartan “coaches” were supplementing their athletes with various herbs and mushroom concoctions in an effort to give them a competitive edge. Greek athletes also ate sheep testicles to raise their testosterone levels. Others combined wine with strychnine, a poison used as a stimulant in small amounts.
1896: Paris-to-Bordeaux Cycling Race:
Cyclists resort to stimulants to enhance performance and numb the pain. Heroin and cocaine were combined in a speedball. A less potent concoction mixed wine with extracts from the coca leaf. The first reported death from doping is the Welsh cyclist Andrew Linton, who died during the Paris-to-Bordeaux cycling race after drinking a substance reported to be trimethyl.
1936:
The Berlin Olympics: the games were replete with rumors of performance enhancing drug use by German athletes. Sprinters were experimenting with nitroglycerine in an effort to dilate their coronary arteries. Germans won more Olympic medals than any other country – eighty-nine compared to the United States’ fifty nine.
1939:
Biochemist Ernest Laqueur and his colleagues at the University of Amsterdam earn the Nobel Prize in chemistry for isolating the male sex hormone and coining the name for the newly identified hormone -Testosterone. (testo = testes, ster=sterol, one=ketone).
World War II:
Reports of rampant use of amphetamines by US soldiers, who took them to stay awake and alert, and the use of testosterone by elite Nazi SS troops.
1942:
The team physician of the St. Louis Cardinals directed that regular multivitamins be given to all the players. The athletic trainer convinced the players that these pills had more than just vitamins. Cardinals had an outstanding year.
Early 1950's
Human Growth Hormone was made available to deficient children.
1955:
Dr. John Ziegler, a team physician for the US weight-lifting team at the 1956 World Championships in Vienna, observed the Soviet team being injected with a substance he believed to be testosterone – perfectly legal at the time. One of the Soviet coaches told Ziegler the Soviets had been injecting weight lifters and other athletes with testosterone since the mid-1940s. He also told Ziegler that this was possible because of the German scientists who had defected to Russia at the end of WWII and brought their formula with them. Upon his return to the US, Ziegler contacted Ciba Pharmaceutical Company and worked with its scientists to develop an **** anabolic steroid. The work culminated in the development of Dianabol, Ciba's trade name for methandrostenolone, which appeared on the market in 1960.
1960:
The Rome Olympics: the first games to be widely televised. Rome unveiled two high profile female Soviet athletes who had allegedly added testosterone to their training regimens. Tamara Press won gold in the shot put and silver in the discus while her sister Irina was a gold medalist in the 80-meter hurdles.
1964:
The Tokyo Olympics came to be known as the "Steroid Olympics." Rumors were in the air that the IOC was developing a banned-substances list and a program for drug testing.
1967:
Tommy Simpson, another world-class cyclist, died in the course of the Tour de France in 1967. An autopsy showed that Simpson had traces of amphetamines in his blood.
1968:
Richard Nixon embarks on his “war on drugs” campaign in 1968 – the same year that the International Olympic Committee starts their anti-doping testing.
1970:
Arnold Schwarzenegger wins his first of seven Mr. Olympia bodybuilding titles. He later admits to using anabolic steroids while training for the competitions.
1972:
Munich Olympics: The Soviets won four of the eight gold medals in weight lifting. The super heavyweight division was won by Vasiliy Alekseyev, a giant of a man, who was to break eight world weight-lifting records in six years. It is alleged that Alekseev was stacking more than 350 milligrams of anabolic steroids per day at his peak - seventy times the therapeutic dosage.
1976:
Olympics in Montreal: The East German women's swim team won 11 gold medals out of a possible 13. None failed a drug test, but that was because the sport scientists back home had already taken steps to make sure they would pass. Female swimmers were developing deep voices, body hair on their torso, acne, and other adverse effects of anabolic steroid use.
1983:
The NBA began drug testing.
1987:
The NFL began drug testing.
1988:
The Seoul Korea Olympics – the 100 Meter Sprint: Canadian Ben Johnson breaks the World Record, but later tests positive for the steroid “stanozolol” and his gold medal is given to second place winner, Carl Lewis.
1989:
Future president George W. Bush becomes managing partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, where he manages both Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro.
1994:
• Seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games.
• Hulk Hogan testifies in court that he used steroids over a period of 12 years “to get big” and also introduced WWF Chairman Vince McMahon to steroids during the filming of No Holds Barred.
• The Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) passes on October 25, deregulating the supplement industry.
1998:
• McGwire (70 HRs) breaks Roger Maris' 37-year single-season HR record
2000:
• Bonds agrees to endorse ZMA, a supplement made by Victor Conte, owner of The Bay Area Lab Co-Operative, aka “BALCO”.
• Oakland A's Jason Giambi hits career-high 43 HRs with 137 RBIs, wins MVP.
• Marion Jones wins 5 medals at the Sydney Olympics.
2001:
• Barry Bonds breaks Mark McGwire's single-season home run record and wins his fourth MVP. He'll win the next three.
2002:
• New Major League Baseball labor deal includes first steroids-testing policy.
• Free agent Jose Canseco goes unsigned. He claims he was black-balled and may write a book.
• Retired baseball MVP Ken Caminiti is the first MLB player to admit to taking steroids. In Sports Illustrated, Caminiti says 50% of players take them.
2003:
• BALCO is raided by federal agents, and is discovered to be the source of performance enhancing drugs for major professional athletes.
• The BALCO client-list includes over 200 elite athletes - including Jason Giambi, Bill Romanowski, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds - and many of who are called to testify before a Federal Grand Jury.
2004:
• In February, Attorney General John Ashcroft announces 42-count indictment against Conte, Barry Bond’s trainer Greg Anderson and two others on charges of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute steroids.
• The San Francisco Chronicle reports Bonds testified to using steroids unknowingly.
• Ken Caminiti dies of a heart attack at the age of 41.
• Jose Canseco publishes “JUICED: Wild Times, Rampant Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big”, in which he admits to his own steroid use, and claims to have injected Mark McGwire with steroids.
2005:
• MLB announces new drug-testing policy on January 13th. It includes year-round testing for steroids and stricter penalties, starting with 10-day unpaid suspension for first offense.
• Largely in reaction to Jose Canseco’s book “Juiced”, Congress holds hearings to investigate the use of steroids in baseball. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr appear, as do Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, and Curt Schilling.
• Rafael Palmeiro is suspended from baseball after testing positive for steroids, just a few months after famously testifying before Congress: “I have never used steroids. Period.” He is investigated for perjury but no charges are filed.
2006:
• July 27: The Phonak cycling team announces that its rider, Tour de France champion Floyd Landis, tested positive for testosterone in an "A" sample test taken after his remarkable Stage 17 comeback. He is later stripped of his title.
• July 29: World champion sprinter Justin Gatlin reveals in a statement that he tested positive for testosterone at an April meet in Kansas. His World Record is revoked.
• Aug. 27: Six former members Carolina Panthers, including three of the five starting offensive linemen from the 2004 Super Bowl team, received numerous prescriptions for steroids and other banned substances, based on court documents in a federal case against a South Carolina doctor.
2007:
• February 16th, 2007: Sylvester Stallone flies into Sydney, Australia with
vials of human growth hormone Jintropin (which is not only illegal in Australia, but
also in America). He was charged with one count of importing a prohibited
substance.
• June 25th, 2007: Chris Benoit kills wife, son and himself. It is discovered that he
was using testosterone. Roid Rage is blamed.
• August 7th, 2007: Bonds break Hank Aaron’s home run record, and currently holds the record with 762 home runs.
• October 2007: Five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones admits lying to federal agents about her use of steroids prior to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She is stripped of her medals.
• November 17th, 2007 Bonds is indicted on perjury charges and obstruction of justice by a federal grand jury for his testimony in the BALCO case.
• December 13th, 2007: Former Senator George Mitchell’s report examining steroid use in baseball is released. Almost 70 professional baseball players are named in connection with using performance-enhancing drugs, including Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte
