1984 Summer Olympics vs. steroids.

Winning an Olympic gold medal is every athlete's dream. But some athletes will do anything to win--even risk their lives! Some take dangerous drugs--steroids--to make them stronger and more muscular, and to have a better shot at being a champion.

With the 1984 Summer Olympics only a few months away, steroid use is one of the International Olypic Committee's biggest problems. The committee forbids taking the drug, in part because athletes and coaches feel it makes the competition unfair. But more important, doctors are concerned about steroids' long-term side effects--which include changes in appearance, decreased chances of ever having children, and the possibility of developing heart disease. The Olympic Committee is already taking steps to stop athletes from experimenting with these drugs. After all, there's no point in bringing home the gold if winning makes you sick. U.S. Team Trying To Avoid Another Embarrassment

The steroid problem came to a head at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, when Jeff Michels, three-time gold medal winner in weight-lifting and the American favorite for the 1984 Summer Olympic games, was disqualified. Jeff was caught taking drugs. Medical tests showed he was taking steroids--the same stuff banned in international competition. Not only was Jeff stripped of the three gold medals he had won, he was banned from competition for two year--meaning the Olympics was out.

Twelve members of the American track and field team flew home right after jeff was busted, before their events even started. Rumor said they, too, were taking drugs. By the end of the 1983 Pan American games, 16 athletes were disqualified for drug use and 23 medals were returned. The 1983 Pan American games will be forever remembered as the largest drug scandal--but it wasn't the first. Athletes have actually been taking steroids for years. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, for example, a drug-free American women's swim team defeated the East Germans hands down--eight gold, give silver, and four bronze medals! Just one short year later, at the 1973 World Swimming Championships in Yugoslavia, the same East German women stunned the swimming world with an incredible comeback, winning 10 gold medals! The Americans, the previous year's favorite, won three.

Deena Deardurff, the 1972 American record holder who competed against the East German women both years, told the press that somehow over that year, the East German women became incredibly masculine. Their voices had deepened and their body structures changed. In fact, Deena said, if she hadn't recognized their faces and names, she would have mistaken them for men! The Americans wanted to know what the East German women did. Did they take new vitamins, start a new diet regimen? No! They started taking steroids! Steroids Are Different Than The Drugs We Usually Hear About

All of us, athletic or not, have steroids in our bodies. They're a group of hormones our bodies produce naturally. So why do athletes feel they need more? There are many types of steroids, but the ones athletes take are called anabolic steroids. Anabolic means muscle-building, so anabolic steroids are muscle-building hormones, which athletes believe improve their performance. So they take pills or injections of natural or man-made versions of the anabolic steroid testosterone, the male growth hormone. Men and women produce testosterone, although obviously in different amounts. It builds muscles by entering the bloodstream and hooking up with muscle cells, telling them to expand and grow. Athletes taking steroids ...