Performance Enhancing Drug Use by Professional Athletes

Table of contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

History3

Uses in the past3

Types of cases and situations of use4

Legislation and laws and Reforms4

Failures it produces4

Conclusion5

References6

Performance Enhancing Drug Use by Professional Athletes

Introduction

Many athletes take anabolic steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. Its quantity is higher than usually the prescribed quantity for the medical reasons. Resulting in what we call “drug”. This drug in the sports commonly terms as “doping”. The use of performance enhancing drugs can be done to improve the performance of athletes. Many sports ban the use of performance enhancing drugs. Most of the athletes take it in the form of steroids — that is called anabolic-androgen steroids or just anabolic steroids — this increases their mass and muscles strength. The major anabolic steroid hormone produced in the body is testosterone.

Discussion

History

Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard for the first time, in 1889, the 72-year announced the fact he had injected himself with a fluid from testicles of a dog, in an effort to slow down the effects of aging on his body.(Klatz, 1997) In 1935, A German scientists Adolf Butenandt in order to treat the testosterone deficiency hypogonadism, synthesized anabolic steroids. He won a noble prize for his work with anabolic steroids.

Uses in the past

German army used it during the World War II. Its side effects were exploited by the Germans soldiers in order to produce a strong army. Anabolic steroids were used to reverse the effects of imprisonment on prisoners of Nazi concentration camps after World War II. The first case apppeared in 1886 when an athlete Arthur Linton dies during a race from Bordeaux to Pari by using stimulant drug called trimethyl.

Furthermore, the weightlifting teams of USSR and USA used performance enhancing drugs in the decades of 1950s. USA team doctors reported in 1954, doctors of the USSR team revealing that they used testosterone for enhancing their performance. Four weightlifting medalist in 1983 during PanAm Games were found positive for performance enhancing drugs and were stripped of their medals.

It became worldwide scandal at 1988 in Seoul Olympics Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was also stripped from his gold medal for setting a world record in the 100 meters race.

Types of cases and situations of use

On May 14, 1992, NFL defensive end, Lyle Alzado died of brain tumor. The 43-year-old two-time All-Pro alleged his main cause of his disease was use of steroid and HGH since two decades (at its ...