Steroids a New Look at Performance Enhancing Drugs
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STEROIDS STEROIDS A New Look at Performance-Enhancing Drugs Rob Beamish Copyright 2011 by Rob Beamish All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beamish, Rob. Steroids : a new look at performance-enhancing drugs / Rob Beamish. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–313–38024–2 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–313–38025–9 (ebook) 1. Anabolic steroids. 2. Doping in sports. 3. Olympics—Political aspects. 4. Olympics— Social aspects. I. Title. RC1230.B454 2011 362.2909—dc22 2011010791 ISBN: 978–0–313–38024–2 EISBN: 978–0–313–38025–9 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Praeger An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America Contents Preface vii Introduction xi 1. Coubertin’s Olympic Project 1 2. Sports, Spectacles, and the Nation-State: The Nazi Olympics 25 3. The Olympic Games’ Fundamental Principle: The Spirit of Olympism 41 4. The Social Construction of Steroids in Sports 73 5. Interests of the Nation-State, Sports, and Steroids 101 6. Steroids in Sports: The Social Construction of a New Moral Panic 133 Conclusion: Sports, Modernity, and Steroids 167 Bibliography 185 Index 201 Preface C. Wright Mills urged students and scholars to aspire to be craftsworkers. In his essay “On Intellectual Craftsmanship,” Mills (1959) encouraged sociolo- gists to keep files because the very act of writing is inescapably creative. By simply jotting something down to put into a file, one pauses and reflects, considers the idea, sees links to other ideas and experiences, and develops new associations. Mills emphasized an active engagement with one’s files: going through them from time to time, physically spreading a file out on a desk, reassess- ing and rearranging it. In the physical manipulation of the file, one sparks associations and connections never seen before. All of Mills’ (1959) proj- ects began and ended with his files; his books, Mills noted, were “simply organized releases from the continuous work that goes into those files” (pp. 200–1). This book is no different. As Ian Ritchie and I finished Fastest, Highest, Strongest, I was already adding new material to my files on performance-enhancing substances. Various requests for essays, chapters, and editorials encouraged me to add more and to consider steroids and other substances from different perspectives. The ongoing world of high-performance sports also gener- ated new examples, problems, regulations, interpretations, and concerns over the social construction of steroid use in sports. As a result, this is another periodic, organized release from my own files; it is one that I hope will stimulate other researchers, athletes, and policymakers struggling with the dilemmas and contradictions that exist in high-performance sports to open files of their own from which they may contribute to the debates over high-performance sports and performance-enhancing practices. As this organized release comes to completion, I am indebted to several individuals. I have learned a great deal from the lively, spirited discussions in my graduate seminar: KHS 869: The Body and Social Theory. As an interdisciplinary group, the students in that seminar have continually viii Preface inspired me with their enthusiasm for comprehensively studying the body and embodiment. While we were supportive of each other, no idea went unchallenged or underexplored. While I am indebted to all the students in KHS 869, I have benefited in particular from lengthy discussions, at a variety of locations across the campus, with Stephanie Cork, Paloma Holmes, Melanie Kurrein, Jackie Orsetto, and Carolyn Prouse—a fine group of young craftswomen who embody the rich future for critical scholarship directed at the social construction of the human body. Bill Munn has carefully read the entire manuscript, asked the right ques- tions when others would have shied away, and provided the intellectual support that is so vital to the solitary task of writing. My debts to Bill extend well beyond this book, and words could never adequately express my thanks. I also want to thank Michael Atkinson for suggesting to Dan Harmon that I might be a person who could undertake this project and Dan for following through on that suggestion—even though it took longer to com- plete the manuscript than I had anticipated. Most of this book was written within a compressed period of time, involving long hours, seven days a week, over several months. I am truly fortunate that my lifelong partner, Nada, fully understands the demands of writing and gives me the intellectual and emotional support needed to work through every obstacle that I encountered along the way. While Nada may justifiably think “I’ve heard that before,” I am looking forward to enjoying her love freed from all the external pressures and deadlines we have had to negotiate over the past few years. Finally, it is safe to say that Travis, Stephanie, and Ryan Beamish have each become fully involved in their lives as young adults, charting futures that will follow dreams that they will realize over the next few years. In the past, they have been close by, and I’ve drawn support from their prox- imity; this time, it has been a different form of support that I have felt— the sense of satisfaction and well-being that arise while watching them on a phase of the life course that Nada and I can recall like it was yesterday. Knowing they are so well on their way is deeply satisfying and rewarding. Before taking full responsibility for all the arguments presented in this book, there is one particular issue that I should address: On the basis of the material that follows, am I advocating the use of steroids? The short answer is no—but there is also a longer answer. The decision to use steroids is complex. It is currently clouded in a good deal of misinformation as well as the absence of reliable scientific Preface ix knowledge. Nevertheless, no matter what the state of the available infor- mation and despite the powerful social forces that impinge on athletes’ and others’ decisions, before any individual ever chooses to introduce powerful hormones, such as anabolic-androgenic steroids into his or her body, he or she should have absolute certainty on three points. First, the individual must be absolutely positive that he or she has gone as far as possible toward meeting his or her particular goals without using such powerful synthetic hormones. In addition, the individual must have compelling arguments that will persuade his or her close family and friends that there is a genuine need to use steroids to further the individ- ual’s goals and objectives. Second, if it still seems appropriate to use steroids to enhance one’s performance or appearance, then the individual should thoroughly study the most authoritative scientific information possible; seek the wisdom, experience, and guidance of the appropriate medical and health profes- sionals; and ensure that his or her physiological responses to the substan- ces used are closely and regularly monitored. Steroids are powerful hormones, and they should not be used lightly. Finally, no individual below the age of majority should take steroids. To begin with, a teenager has not matured enough physiologically to know whether steroids are necessary to reach his or her particular performance or appearance goals. Second, no matter how socially sophisticated and informed a teenager may be, he or she still lacks enough life experience to make a fully informed decision about substances that will have such a significant long-term impact. Steroids affect more than one’s physiology, and it is their influence on one’s social psychology and perception of self that are really the most significant and far-reaching outcomes. Lastly, at the present time, without a medical prescription, possession of steroids is illegal, and within the current social climate, steroid users are marginalized individuals. Dealing with the guilt, uncertainty, and social stigma currently associated with steroids become additional (and unnecessary) problems for teenagers already struggling to navigate those difficult years of emo- tional, personal, and social development. With my views on steroid use clear, despite all the support and advice I have received in writing this book, I remain solely responsible for each of the arguments presented. Now back to my files. ... Introduction Testifying before the Committee on Government Reform (CoGR) on March 17, 2005, Denise and Raymond Garibaldi were unequivocal: “There is no doubt in our minds that steroids killed our son” (CoGR, 2005, p. 115). That sound bite defined the committee’s investigation into steroid use in baseball: Steroids are lethal substances that must be eradicated from sports. How did it ever come to this? That simple question is deceptively com- plex. It is one that this book addresses within the context of several more questions. First, how did sports ever become so focused on performance and victory at any cost? That critical question leads into several more. What were the reasons