History of steroids in bodybuilding
The use of steroids, and performance enhancing drugs in general, in worldwide sport is usually dated back to a certain John Bosley Ziegler, a physician for the United States weightlifting team. Meeting his Russian equivalent, they discussed diets and Ziegler was told that the Russian team were being given testosterone. Ziegler experimented himself, and although finding some success with anabolic steroids, he was unsuccessful in his attempts to discover a performance enhancing drug that was lacking in serious side effects. This did not stop them from reaching common knowledge across the sporting community, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) established a medical commission to fight doping in 1967 – the Winter Olympics the following year became the first to institute compulsory drug testing. Anabolic steroids joined the list of banned substances in 1975
It is around the time of the blanket ban on anabolic steroids in organised sport that it became a serious issue in bodybuilding. By this …show more content…
The 2008 Arnold Classic became the first bodybuilding event that required all competitors to sign a contract subjecting them to random drug testing. The International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBF) is also a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code, which embodies an annual list of prohibited substances and methods for all of its allied organisations. It is, however, an unfortunate truth that a sport which relies entirely on the physical size of its competitors is especially fallible to steroid abuse. It is because of this that so-called “natural bodybuilding” has gained popularity as a strictly enforced alternative. The use of any controversial substances – including anabolic steroids – is categorically forbidden, and prospective competitors are only welcomed if proven to be
The use of steroids, and performance enhancing drugs in general, in worldwide sport is usually dated back to a certain John Bosley Ziegler, a physician for the United States weightlifting team. Meeting his Russian equivalent, they discussed diets and Ziegler was told that the Russian team were being given testosterone. Ziegler experimented himself, and although finding some success with anabolic steroids, he was unsuccessful in his attempts to discover a performance enhancing drug that was lacking in serious side effects. This did not stop them from reaching common knowledge across the sporting community, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) established a medical commission to fight doping in 1967 – the Winter Olympics the following year became the first to institute compulsory drug testing. Anabolic steroids joined the list of banned substances in 1975
It is around the time of the blanket ban on anabolic steroids in organised sport that it became a serious issue in bodybuilding. By this …show more content…
The 2008 Arnold Classic became the first bodybuilding event that required all competitors to sign a contract subjecting them to random drug testing. The International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBF) is also a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code, which embodies an annual list of prohibited substances and methods for all of its allied organisations. It is, however, an unfortunate truth that a sport which relies entirely on the physical size of its competitors is especially fallible to steroid abuse. It is because of this that so-called “natural bodybuilding” has gained popularity as a strictly enforced alternative. The use of any controversial substances – including anabolic steroids – is categorically forbidden, and prospective competitors are only welcomed if proven to be