ng with strength. Weight lifting is such a sport. It is estimated by one competitor that only about one percent of strongmen have never used anabolic steroids, while another says the number is closer to fifty percent. The sport was developed in an era when anabolic steroids were an accepted part of training. The individual worked in the gym for four, five, six hours a day of intense training. He then injected juice or took it in capsules to add strength and to enable him to train through injuries and fatigue. He ingested enormous quantities of carbs and calories and got as big and strong as possible. That was the culture for the sport and to an extent still is. However, public opinion has turned against steroid use in this sport as in others (McCallum, 1999, 98).
The spread of the use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs is related to the way sports culture has developed in the American context, where the claim is made that winning and losing is less important than how the game is played, but where, in fact, winning is everything:
If second is unacceptable and all the rewards go to the winners, then some will do whatever it takes to be first. It may require using steroids, or trying to injure a competitor, or altering the transcript of a recruit so that he can play illegally (Eitzen, 1996, 306).
Athletes use drugs to increase their intensity, endurance, or strength, and they do this in spite of their illegality and harmful side effects. The most commonly used drugs are anabolic steroids, which have the effect of making athletes bigger, stronger, and faster. Various studies show that seven percent of high school male athletes use anabolic steroids, as do fifteen percent of male college athletes, six percent of female college athletes, and about fifty percent of those playing the power positions in professional football (meaning offensive and defensive lines and linebackers). Athletes in weight l...