[url]http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/history-of-doping-in-sports[/url] "In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, swimmers, distance runners, sprinters, and cyclists had begun using special "doping recipes" to gain a competitive edge against their opponents.[2,4] Boxers of the day swallowed strychnine tablets and mixtures of brandy and cocaine.[4] In the 1904 Olympic marathon, a faltering Thomas Hicks was administered two injections of sulphate of strychnine by his trainer during the race, chased down by large glasses of brandy.[4,9,10] Hicks took the gold but nearly died. Mixtures of strychnine, heroin, cocaine, and caffeine were in use until the 1920s.[2,4] No attempt was made to conceal these practices—they weren't considered cheating—but doping recipes were closely guarded secrets." Some interesting history and perspective here.
It's insane how much they loved brandy in those days. I think they were trying to feed Tunney brandy during the first Greb fight and he threw it right back up. I wonder how much harm these efforts in performance-enhancing actually did?
Yeah I can see why a bunch of booze and coke would be helpful for a round but for some 30 round fight... I guess the older boxers also fought hurt alot more often so maybe it was all about deadening the pain even at other cost?
Do you remember the pro football player Lyle Alzado, who payed for the Denver Broncos, well he took Steroids, he got sick, got Brain Cancer. For the life of me, why do people like to inflict harm on their bodies? To me it is like being a drug user of illegal drugs, I never smoked Marijuana or did drugs in my entire life, no interest in them. Nowadays this hang up with Steroids, I thought they were illegal?
Talking about steroids for the umpteenth time I find it somewhat boring and this post is an invitation not to write more. 80% of professional athletes in all sports use Peds or Drugs. In some sports like bodybuilding or wrestling or running they are all doped, in sports like darts less. Without Peds and Drugs European footballers could not play 3 games a week between league and cups, cyclists are all 100% doped, most boxers, almost all, use Peds and Drugs to gain mass, improve pain resistance and increase the power of blows. Some juiced athletes will be caught, others not, corruption today also involves those who carry out checks. Some athletes will develop tumors, leukemias and dystrophies and other diseases over time, others will not. The world of sport turns in this way everything is so distorted and adulterated. Indignation is now of little use.
Thread from about a month ago: [url]https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/a-very-brief-history-of-steroids.670990/[/url]
I love that a topic as large as PEDs in boxing and sports is dismissed but X number of heavyweight fantasy threads are still being created on the daily. It's an interesting topic- particularly as 80% of the statements that are made about how many people are doing steroids are complete conjecture and not backed up by evidence. And yes, I made that percentage up too!
