American swimmers taking steriods

It'll be interesting to see these gold medalists 15-20 years from now. Flo Jo may have some company...... :-)

Originally posted by John Smith ... Flo Jo may have some company...... :-) You are right about Flo Jo, the U.S. woman winner of Olympics in track, who mysteriously died a year ago, at age 38. The newspapers never explained the mystery of her death.

Hi aquageek, I'm not saying that the swimmer shouldn't be strung up if he is guilty. Just that this article just came out. If there is a chance this is a false postive, wait until all tests are done, before we start beating our chests in shame. :rolleyes: Hi Paul, I know it's wrong to say this, but if the baseball players want to use andro, let 'em. www.nutritionalsupplements.com/androR14.html Andro Fails To Boost Testosterone Or better yet, print up the warning in larger font. "Warning: This product contains steroid hormones that may cause *** enlargement, testicle shrinkage and infertility in males, and increased facial and body hair, voice deepening, and clitoral enlargement in females."

We will always be one step behind the cheaters...... I agree that penalties should be very stiff and fitting for each circumstance. I had to deal with this when I was coaching at the University of Utah. I had an athlete test positive for steriods. It was a very difficult situation in determining the punishment and circumstances as to why this athlete was using steriods. Like many other things (sex, drugs, smoking, etc). we tell the youth of today not to do it, but we never really educate them or take the time to give each person the chance to determine for themselves why they should or shouldn't do something. I can't support life time bans when there is a lack of knowledge or understanding. American society tends to lean toward putting our heads in the sand and hope that it doesn't happen. When it does happen we all like to be critical and demand consequences. I'm sure there is a better system than this..... I wish I had the answers! What are we going to do when we have the first genetically altered athlete competing at the Olympics?

Andro sure didn't seem to hurt Mark McGuire much! And by the way, you get a before and after look at Sosa lately?! The problem with the "let em" attitude for baseball players is that they have incredible exposure in our society, far more than any "Olympic" sport athletes. Young athletes watching this learn quickly that if they want to make it to the big time and their "heros" are using (legal or not) then they should as well. Lefty, if the guy is guilty than yes he should be condemned here and everywhere else. We should be defined by our worst and/or best actions isn't that who we are? If the guys proven guilty than stand up and take the punishment, that will define who he is down the road. Sadly in our world we have few people that take that kind of responsibility, something we see daily in how our legal system works.

rseltzer makes an excellent point with respect to types of drugs being used. When I write about life time bans, I am writing about steroid use and obvious long term efforts designed to cheat. Over the years I have listened to many sad stories regarding swimmers taking cold medications and prescribed medication that resulted in disqualification. These are examples of mistakes, not open or blatant cheating. I get hard lined over the really blatant cheating which brings up another point; where do we draw the line on cheating and drug use? Is one form more problematic then another?

Pardon, I forget that exaggeration/dry humor doesn't always communicate through the web. 1. "String-em up" was just my way of saying what a lot of people are saying: be tough on those who knowingly cheat, to discourage it. 2. Just read an interesting article at SwimInfo by David Denniston, who provides some context around the "postive" result by Vencill. That backs up what I said earlier, there shouldn't be rush to assume that this guy is guilty. 3. I wasn't talking about drug-use/baseball in general, but specifically about andro/snake-oil science. Andro doesn't work. Those guys are getting larger *in-spite* of it. Andro has all the heath threats of steroids, without the "benefits". For baseball, they should discourage drug use (like Paul says).

I do think there is some basis for re-examining the length of penalty meted out to certain drug abusers. For example, there is evidence that effects of steroids can have long-term impact. If the drug persists for long periods of time in the body then do some of the "benefits" of such use, i.e. enhanced recovery from workouts, also persist? If so , then Tom position that steriod use should carry harsher (longer) penalities can be justified. The moral basis of the Tom's position seems like a less definite issue. Drug use by minors (or even "immature" young adults) who may be influenced by coaches and/or other adults is not totally known. ( I do think that some of the East German stories, while they might be self-serving, do raise the issue of control/choices presented to these young athletes). That's why I feel more comfortable with rigorous testing, longer sentences for certain type of violations where there is physical evidence that drug's impact is longer term BUT some provision whereby young offenders can be given some opportunity to compete "clean" Perhaps first time ban you miss 4 years and the second time your out for life?

Steroids are needed to compete with the elite. Swimmers are more likely to use performance enhancing steroids, rather than bodybuilding steroids like Anadrol, or Dianabol. Performance steroids like "EqueBolin", a steroid used to treat sick horses, but used by humans who want to excel in sports.

I believe our youth are ten zillion times more educated then we were in the 50's, 60's or 70's (I am 53). They know good and well the dangers, risks and side benefits from drug use. A multitude of information is out there on these subjects. Gosh, that is how high school kids find this junk in the first place. I think it is naive to think our youth are ignorant to the dangers of steroid an illegal drug use. I think they are much more aware then that....much more aware….