Anabolic Steroids in High School Sports
Anabolic-androgenic steroids are drugs that have similar effects to testosterone on the body, and increase protein within cells, especially in muscles. Most stereotypically they are used by athletes to increase muscle mass and to increase performance in sport, because of this many athletes have used them and been disqualified in sporting events and even become ineligible to compete.
l. - History of anabolic steroids, and uses
Anabolic steroids or AAS were first synthesized in the 1930s, and today are used in many medicinal ways, including bone growth, inducing puberty in males, to treat certain wasting conditions such as cancer and AIDS, and to help malnourished solders gain weight and improve performance, but most stereotypically used to increase and enhance muscle mass and physical strength in sports such as body building, wrestling, football, and baseball, because of this many high school athletic programs have caught their athletes using anabolic steroids since then.
It all started during the 1950s when a physician named John Ziegler, who is considered to be the father of anabolic steroids in the U.S., travelled to Vienna with the American/York barbell weightlifting team. While he was there he conversed with a Russian physician whom he eventually learned that the Russian lifting team was equipped with performance enhancing drugs too from which he blamed for their success. Upon Ziegler’s return to the U.S. he decided the U.S. lifting team required performance enhancing drugs if they wanted to stay competitive in the weightlifting world. Ziegler then started operating with the CIBA Pharmaceutical Company to develop an oral anabolic steroid. This resulted in the creation of the anabolic steroid Methandrostenolone or Dianabol. Ziegler tried low doses on himself, on the American trainer, and two lifters. The end results, they all gained significant weight and strength so they began taking even more. Because of the success in the steroids use on the U.S. weightlifting team they spread too many other sports where mass was a significant accessory (History of Steroids).
Since the discovery of anabolic steroids, which can be traced back as early as the 1930’s, many athletes whether it be professional, colligate, high school, or Olympic have been taking large amounts of anabolic steroids to enhance their performance in sport. From football to bodybuilding many famous athletes since then have also revealed their uses of AAS. From Olympic cyclists Knut Jensen and Tommy Simpson, along with Pro Football Coach Sid Gillman in the 1960s, to Pro football players Paul Lowe and Lyle Alzado in the 1970s AAS was used significantly. Another era steroids became associated with and certifiably noticed was in the golden age of bodybuilding when bodybuilders like Steve Reeves, Reg Park, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sergio Olivia, competed in competitions like the Mr. Olympia. Then the 1980s, jay Sylvester a four-time Olympian who competed in the discus throw. The 1990s is known for the widespread usage of steroids in baseball and then significantly increasing after the MLB strike of ‘94. Then after then Home Run of ’96 the average number of home runs per team skyrocketed to 177.22 from 118.58 in only eight years (ERA 7 The Steroid Era – Part I 1990 TO 2001). The use of anabolic steroids is now banned by all major sporting bodies, including the ATP, WTA, ITF, International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, all major professional golf tours, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the European Athletic Association, WWE, the NFL and the UCI. However drug testing can be wildly inconsistent and, in some instances, has gone unenforced (Anabolic Steroids and Sports). ll. –The effects of anabolic steroids on the body, and strength gains
Despite the fact that anabolic steroids are illegal, and they can cause major health problems such as organ damage and sometimes have
