Steroids​—What They Do for You and to You

STEROIDS! The very word cast a long scandalous shadow over the 1988 Olympic Games held in Seoul, Republic of Korea. A number of hope-filled athletes were suspended by the International Olympic Committee for the alleged use of the drug. The world’s fastest sprinter in the 100-meter final basked in the glory of his gold medal​—but not for long. Tests taken after the race revealed steroid use. He lost his medal, and his world record.

This, however, should not have taken the sports world by surprise. In the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary, Canada, an athlete was banned from the games after testing positive for steroid use. It is reported that at the prestigious World Class track-and-field meet in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1987, half of the 28 athletes scheduled to participate in the “power” events​—shot put, hammer, javelin, and discus—​did not show up after learning of steroid tests.

At Caracas, Venezuela, in 1983, 15 athletes were barred from the Pan-American games for steroid use. The 1984 Olympics was not without its steroid shame as winners were stripped of medals.

Almost every sport has a steroid scandal of its own​—track and field, bodybuilding, weight lifting, and football, to name a few. More than 20 college football players from a number of U.S. universities were barred from playing in the postseason bowl games because of steroid use. In the world of professional football, one famed 14-year NFL veteran was quoted as saying: “On some teams, between 75 and 90 percent of all athletes use steroids.” Reported the magazine Psychology Today: “Many of those . . . interviewed put steroid use among competitive body-builders at 100 percent.”

Furthermore, the abuse of steroids is not limited to professional and collegiate athletes. Today, steroids are widely used by both male and female bodybuilders and athletes and also by boys not yet in their teens.

Dr. William N. Taylor, a member of the U.S. Olympic Drug Control Program, warned that the use of these drugs has reached “epidemic proportions.” How far-reaching is this epidemic? Taylor noted that in addition to athletes, accountants and professors as well as unskilled workers and police officers abuse steroids. “It’s not a sports problem anymore,” he said, “it’s a social problem. And these users are playing with dynamite.”

Anabolic steroids are powerful synthetic versions of the male hormone testosterone. Over the years steroids have been used clinically, and under careful supervision, as an aid in bringing on puberty that is delayed, in building up muscles withered by disease or surgery, and for the protection of blood cells during radiation or chemotherapy. For these and other physiological problems apparent to doctors, steroids have been a potent tool in the hands of the medical profession.

In the 1950’s Russian doctors and scientists reasoned that by giving athletes megadoses of the male hormone testosterone, muscles and body mass should build up more quickly, thus enhancing the performance of their athletes. Their goal was to empower them to run faster, jump higher, throw the discus and javelin farther, lift heavier weights, and excel in all power events. As a result, Russian athletes went into the world arena of international sports competition with a marked edge, dominating most of the sports events at the time.

Nationalism raised its ugly head. An American doctor decided to even the odds on the sports battlefield by formulating a synthetic form of anabolic steroid​—a drug related to testosterone—​that was easier and cheaper to produce, with the option of being taken in pill form or by injection. The doctor’s formula proved alarmingly successful. Bigger bodies and better sports performances through chemistry were now possible. The sports war was on!

There are also those on an ego trip. “Bulging muscles are in,” said an official of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Guys want to look good at the beach. High-school kids think steroids may enhance their ability to get an athletic scholarship, play pro sports or win the girl of their heart.” The Wall Street Journal, October 4, 1988, reported: “Hundreds of thousands of American teen-agers are taking anabolic steroids, orally or by injection, to play better or to simply look better.”

The Pressure Is On

High-school athletes aspiring to be stars in the sports world, their coaches, and possibly their parents know that a few more pounds, a few more muscles in the right places may mean the difference between stardom and mediocrity. With handsome six- and seven-figure salaries being paid those reaching star status and fame for the schools and colleges and their coaches, plus the glory it will bring to their parents, the pressure is on for the would-be star to get the jump on his competition by turning to steroids.

Dr. Taylor, writing in the magazine Psychology Today, said: “I have received dozens of calls from fathers who want to make their average-sized children bigger. I’ve had offers of tens of thousands of dollars to chemically manipulate children.” One noted expert on physical education claims that high-school athletes have the backing of both parents and coaches for steroid use.

Users of steroids admit that the drug works​—it does deliver the muscles and the strength as promised. Said one former professional wrestler: “I took oral steroids, 15 milligrams per day. In 30 days, my bench press went from 315 pounds [143 kg] to 390 pounds [177 kg]. Normally, it takes six months.” Weight lifters claim that they can work out with heavier weights for longer periods of time and that the recovery time between workouts is dramatically reduced.

In other countries as well, bodybuilding is a growing craze. In China, for example, according to the magazine Women’s Sports & Fitness of August 1987, physical fitness and body culture are “sweeping the country . . . Bodybuilding magazines are now available in all large cities.”

A world away from China, in East Germany, steroids are playing a large part in the lives of athletes. Sufficient is this quote from The Wall Street Journal: “‘East German steroids are rated the best,’ says a California lawman. ‘Their athletes have the reputation of being better, bigger and stronger.’”

What Price Glory?

“People think the cocaine issue is big,” said one noted physical therapist who works with athletes. “It’s not as big as anabolic steroids. Among kids, it’s epidemic.” Young people worldwide are jumping on the steroid bandwagon. They are playing a deadly game for body enhancement, for which they may pay a costly price.

“Paranoia, hallucinations, delusions of grandeur and violent tendencies are frightening whenever they appear,” said Psychology Today. “Bodybuilders using steroids may be prone to such psychotic and manic symptoms, according to ongoing research at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.”

In men, added to these side effects are the dangers of suffering from atrophy of the testicles, enlarged breasts​—sometimes requiring surgery—​sterility, and impotence. There is also the risk of liver tumors, kidney damage, strokes, heart disease, and a change in personality that can lead to violence and suicidal tendencies.

Steroid side effects can cause irreversible masculinization in women​—growth of body and facial hair, lower voices, shrinkage of the breasts, interruption of the menstrual cycle.

When one considers those who use drugs to build bigger and better bodies in this so-called fitness boom, one must ask if it is fitness reality or fitness illusion? What happens to fitness after the glory has faded? Will they look back at their young lives and determine that they have paid an enormous price for sports stardom or narcissistic vanity? The wise youth will realize that to sacrifice one’s body for short-lived glory and admiration by those of this system of things is indeed a striving after the wind.