rom chronic anemia. This increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of he blood, and so is the favored drug of endurance athletes, such as runners and cyclists. Studies in Sweden and Australia have shown that epogen, known as EPO, can improve the performance of an athlete by anywhere from seven to 10 percent. In the 1998 Tour de France investigators found caches of the drug in team vans, in car trunks, and in competitors= hotel rooms (Zorpette, 2000).
Human growth hormone (hGH), another naturally occurring hormone in the body, is also used to enhance performance because it is a steroid-like hormone and helps build muscle (Zorpette, 2000). In 1998, a Chinese swimmer on her way to competitions in Perth was detained at the airport and found to have 13 vials of hGH packed in a thermos bottle. In 1996, a Latvian company was found harvesting hGH from human cadavers and selling it for athletic use.
A Romanian gymnast who lost her gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney protested that she only used cold medication. But the medication she used contained pseudoephedrine, which, when used in combination with caffeine and phenylpropanolamine, behaves like an amphetamine. It is marketed on the internet as a body-building supplement that enhances strength and stamina. Athletes use it to lose weight, increase speed and enhance concentration.
Here in the United States, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has been highlighted mainly in professional sports - namely football, baseball and basketball. It is destroying the public image of sports heroes as the number caught taking banned substances increases. In baseball, Mark Mcguire admitted taking androstenedione in his efforts to beat Roger Marris=s home run record, a race watched by millions of baseball fans (Wyche, 2000). He was criticized because it was felt he might inspire children to start taking steroids when taking part in sports, a dangerous habit to begin, with serio...