PBS series Secrets of the Dead will have an epsiode about female German athletes who are now 'paying the price'. The little blurb I just saw showed swimmer. Thought some of you might be interested. It will air on Wednesday evening, in my area.
Lainey
Former Member
Doping History
Drugs have been used to enhance sporting performance for more than 2000 years. Performance-enhancing drugs are illegal, so athletes who use them are cheats. And, given the health risks associated with drug abuse, we can safely say that the race to beat the drug tests is a race nobody wins. The first recorded death from the use of doping in sport was in 1886 when a cyclist died from an overdose of trimethyl. In 1904 Olympics marathon runner Thomas Hicks was using a mixture of brandy and strychnine and nearly died. Heroin, cocaine, and caffeine were used widely used until heroin and cocaine became available only on prescription. During the 1930's it was Amphetamines that replaced strychnine. In the 1950s the Soviet Olympic team used male hormones to increase strength and power. During the 1970's anabolic steroids became the form of doping. By the 1980's, as non-athletes also discovered the body enhancing properties of steroids. During the 1988 Summer Olympics Ben Johnson shattered the world record in the 100-meter dash. His medal was stripped the day after when he tested for anabolic steroids in a post-race drug screening. The 1998 Tour de France in was hit by the worst drugs scandal in its history. The Top Flight Festina team was thrown out of the Tour after the team masseur Willy Voet was arrested when performance-enhancing drugs where found in his team car. In the end, one third of all teams in the race either withdrew or were expelled because of illegal drug abuse.
