Submitted by PrincessBananas85 t3_11salc0 in sports
AccountantNotEditor t1_jcfrea8 wrote
Reply to comment by diymatt in U.S. Olympic medalist Raven Saunders banned for 18 months. by PrincessBananas85
Oh my sweet summer child…
I was an athlete for a D1 collegiate program about 10 years ago, and I made many athlete friends from this time who would go on to play professional sports, with some even still competing professionally. I can assure you, steroids and PEDs are being used by the vast majority of athletes with a financial stake in their sport or competition. I’ve told my story several times before on Reddit, and I suspect some people may be starting to piece together the school and/or the players I reference in my past re-tellings, and so I’m not going to tell those stories again. That said, know that steroid and PED usage is an open secret within these higher level athletic circles. There is money on the line, and with it being such an open secret, it’s well-known that if you want a shot at that money, then you’ll have to compete against enhanced competitors. If you’re told you can sign a multi-million dollar contract playing sports if you just take some performance-boosting drugs, what would you do? Obviously, most don’t get that opportunity, but they realize that if they want a shot at that opportunity then there are things they must do. In that sense, it becomes a logical choice, albeit a personal one.
commonemitter t1_jcfvsmm wrote
Normies cant wrap their mind around athletes using PEDs, they still think you can succeed without drug use, or somehow drug use alone is enough to get you there
AccountantNotEditor t1_jcgnp9t wrote
People in general have very little understanding on how these types of drugs work. There’s a certain mythos of sorts that over time has been built up around them, as if anyone who takes these drugs will suddenly begin looking like they’re ready to compete in regional bodybuilding shows, or that they will make you Superman in any sport.
The truth is that PEDs and steroids are going to make a notable difference in those athletes who are also putting in the effort and who have the discipline required to stay at the top of their game, but your average Joe isn’t going to suddenly become an all star. When you’ve got all of these competitors who are already among the 99.9th percentile at their game, the difference between who gets a shot to be something big and who doesn’t can often times be the difference of whether they’re taking those drugs or not. It’s honestly a sad state of affairs, knowing what these drugs can do to your body long-term, but it’s also a very understandable choice.
marigolds6 t1_jcfxqqq wrote
It doesn't even have to be that high of level of competition, just highly competitive. I went to high school in the late 80s/early 90s. Cross country runners at multiple schools in our area were openly blood doping with autologous transfusions. Steroids were openly sold in the weight room and football locker room (and we were just a mid-tier football program). Supplements were constantly coming on the market ahead of regulation; even as a high school athlete I took supplements in good faith that later ended up banned.
We had a very small handful of generational athletes are our school during my time there (at the level where some here would certainly recognize their names). Some were clean at the high school level, some were not. Inevitably the ones who used performance enhancers started having injury issues at the college level that became worse in their post-college careers (olympic/pro). I don't know for certain if the clean athletes stayed clean after high school, but I learned from a couple of them later how hard it was to stay competitive against the wide spread use of PEDs in their various sports.
tossme68 t1_jcg1wse wrote
I finished in 1990, but worked in sports for a few years more and yes the vast majority of athletes were taking something. There were a few that didn't be they were genetic freaks and now with the amount of money being thrown around it's almost a requirement to stay in the game.
Open-Election-3806 t1_jchb29h wrote
Sweet summer child iS tHe NEw fORm oF wHaTEvEr tHis is
diymatt t1_jcfxjuo wrote
Yeah but there is still some guardrails and oversight. I meant make a full on open class like top fuel dragsters.
AccountantNotEditor t1_jcgmi61 wrote
The guardrails you refer to are more like those fabric bands used in movie theaters to direct lines. Make no mistake that the organizations that oversee this stuff are much more aware of the prevalence of these things than the public. That’s not to say that they’re all corrupt; they obviously aren’t and sometimes people do get caught. However, speaking from personal experience, athletes would know when to expect “random” testing. I always like to use a scene from the old SpikeTV show “Blue Mountain State” for reference to this. In the scene, the team is in the locker room when the head coach calls everyone’s attention in order to tell them, “I had a dream last night that a representative will be coming here in one week to give a random drug screening. In that dream, everyone passed that test with flying colors. wink”. You’d be surprised how accurate that scene is.
diymatt t1_jchi5jq wrote
I'm not sure why you keep using these long, single paragraph diatribes to spoon feed it to me, I get it. Professionals in all arenas of skill that do it on a high level are utilizing performance enhancing tools. I'm not doubting you.
I'm just saying let some tier of athletes go whole hog and take the bottle of roids so we can watch the spectacle.
AccountantNotEditor t1_jciu7x8 wrote
Huh? I’m not spoon feeding you anything; I’m just having a conversation with you, and by extension, sharing information and experiences to anyone else who may read the thread and find the information informative or interesting. I’m not sure what I’ve said that has upset you here. The purpose of Reddit is to have discussions like this.
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