As a result of high profile steroid scandals, the public has come to suspect and accept steroid abuse as widespread. Olympic athletes and the integrity of the Olympic competition itself are tainted not only by positive tests, but also on grounds of guilt by association.


Allegations and accusations of steroid use have become as incriminating as test results and bans in the court of public opinion. Yet for those of you who wonder if the high profile scandals have unfairly and disproportionately tainted Olympic competition, we must look further to face the facts about steroid use, and make our own decisions regarding the effectiveness of the penalty system for steroid violations.

Less Famous Examples and Impact
The fact is there are plenty of less prominent Olympic athletes who have been banned from the Olympics due to steroid use, and it happens virtually on a regular basis. While their cases are not followed in the press like the high profile ones we have just mentioned, the numerous bans of more obscure athletes only serve to re-confirm the public perceptions of the pervasive nature of steroids in Olympics and in sport: 

“Hungarian weightlifting silver medalist Ferenc Gyurkovics and Puerto Rican wrestler Mabel Fonseca were expelled from the games today after testing positive for steroids, the International Olympic Committee said. Gyurkovics, 24, tested positive for oxandrolone, the IOC said. He competed in the 105kg class and set an Olympic record by lifting 195kg in the snatch on Tuesday, but finished second to Dmitri Berestov of Russia in the overall totals. Gyurkovics was stripped of his medal by the IOC executive board. Ukraine’s Igor Razoronov will now get the silver, with Russia’s Gleb Pisarevskiy moving up to bronze. Fonseca, 32, tested positive for the steroid stanozolol (Two More, 2004, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/london_2012/article475722.ece).”

A lesser known medal winner and non-medal contender were the two individuals who tested positive in the above example. When an athlete is sent home, and before they are actually handed an official ban by the International Olympic Committee, they are summarily dismissed from the Olympic Games and the Olympic Village and stripped of any results they may have already have achieved, with their results and medal when applicable going to the next best finishers in their respective events.

The Tainting of the Olympics
The widespread bans raise suspicions that steroid programs and steroids themselves constitute related “secrets” that are being shared and distributed among Olympic athletes.  Atter all, they are in the same "business."   They train together, and share the same burden of pressure to gain a competitive edge. How many are using is unclear, but there is certainly no doubt that all athletes are conscious and aware of who is using or from whom they can get anabolic supplements or a steroid program for enhancing performance and building muscle. It is surely as simple as “asking around.”

The perception of widespread use is further justified when the discovery of steroid use spreads beyond a single Olympic competitor and pervades an entire Olympic team, such as the example of the Polish weightlifting team in 2004:

“WARSAW, Poland - Polish weightlifter Szymon Kolecki, a silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics, will miss the Athens Games after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone. Kolecki tested positive June 26 and was suspended pending the results of testing on a “B” sample, which were released Monday and confirmed the earlier result. 'Kolecki has to forget about the Olympics,' Marek Golab, an official with the Polish Union of Weightlifters, told The Associated Press. He described the absence of Kolecki as 'a great loss.'

''Three other Polish lifters who had planned to compete in Athens have already been disqualified from the Aug. 13-29 games after testing positive for banned substances. Kolecki won the silver medal in Sydney in the men’s middle heavyweight (94-kilogram) class, finishing behind Kakhi Kakiasvilis of Greece (Polish Weightlifter, 2004, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5517233/).”

The last remaining 'clean' Polish weightlifter, and the one who had the most hope of winning a medal for his country, was banned after testing positive for steroids. Of course, this really means that he and the Polish national weightlifting team officials were most successful at hiding the steroid presence from test results, and that they no doubt went through the most effort to mask test results on their best medal contender.

This did not work out, and is an example of how not only individuals but entire teams can be on steroid programs, and even sponsored by the state. This example is presented to establish that the cynicism in public perceptions of steroid use among Olympic athletes is completely founded.

Also, one may have noticed that there are many different kinds of steroids, and the fact is that as of now there may be no limit on the amount of steroids that exist, from those that have not been deemed performance-enhancing as of yet, through those that are designed to mask detection, to the ones that are already on the list of banned substances, a continuously and rapidly growing that officially numbers in the hundreds.

UP NEXT: The psychological and physical consequences of steroid use on athletes further deteriorates the integrity of the Olympic competition