A Brief History of Ergogenic Aids

“The first Olympic games took place in Greece in 776 BC. From sources documenting specific training and dietary regimens for athletes in ancient times, we know that some of them ate hallucinogenic mushrooms and sesame seeds to enhance performance. Although the modern Olympic games commenced in 1896, scientific and medical interest in the diet and training of Olympic athletes did not begin until 1922. . . . In 1889, Charles Edward Brown-Séquard, a French physiologist, claimed to have reversed his own aging process by self-injecting testicular extracts. Testosterone, the primary male hormone, was first synthesized in 1935, and in the 1940_s, athletes began taking anabolic steroids to increase their muscle mass. Throughout the 1950_S and 1960_S, amphetamines and anabolic steroids were used extensively. Concerned about that trend, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned their use by Olympic athletes in the early 1960_S. Formal drug testing began with the 1968 Olympics. In 1988, Canadian Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal after testing revealed he had used an oral anabolic steroid; this was the first time a gold medallist in track and field was disqualified from the Olympics for using illegal drugs…”[From: Silver, Marc D. Use of ergogenic aids by athletes. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2001; 9(1): 61-63.]