THE 'ROID REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 31

by Gary Gaffney, MD, Steroid Nation

After a brief absence due to family events, The Roid Report returns. We will focus on 3 stories today: Rebeca Gusmao, a swimmer from Brazil, a paralympic weightlifter Naveed Ahmed Butt, and Lance Armstrong who needs no introduction.

Rebeca Gusmao received a lifetime ban from swimming due to chronic steroid abuse. Apparently dedicated to swimming in the Olympic Games (see the Olympic symbol tattoo on her arm) she demonstrates the remarkable (or sick) degree of persistence powering athletes down the road to Olympic fame...Obsession beyond normal dedication in Gusmao's case.

As seen in the early photo (probably taken around 2004) Gusmao was a normal to slender athlete with a moderate amount of success. Compare those photos to recent 2007 photos where the swimmer looks like the Incredible Hulk. Gusmao's shoulders look like slabs of muscle, her buttocks huge globes of power, and her face thick and features coarse. Although caught with anabolic androgenic steroids twice, a fan wonders about the use of HGH. Whatever, the transformation was remarkable.

Gusmao tested positive for testosterone before the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. She won two gold medals at the Pan American Games and was later stripped of the medals. The circumstances of the positive dope test even were suspicious: a physician appears to have been corrupted along the way, allegedly slipping in fake urine along the way

In July 2008, Gusmao received a second two-year doping suspension after a positive test for testosterone at a 2006 competition — a decision delayed by problems with the tests. This second positive test for the male hormone sealed her fate: the woman obsessed with Olympic fame now must live with doping shame.

Gusmao argued that she suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition where women excrete an excess of testosterone. The condition induces changes such as acne, menstrual irregularities, increased hair, and an enhancement of muscles -- although 50% of the women become obese. However, the extent of Gusmao's muscle development takes the effects of testosterone to a pharmacological level....doping. The medical excuse appears often in many drug-cheats nefarious excuses, as if we will all buy ridiculous arguments for high steroid levels.

The extent to which the Brazilian swimmer desecrated herself in pursuit of swimming in the Olympic Games should induce some thought about what these obsessed athletes will do to win...ruin their physical appearance and mutilate their bodies to succeed. The money and the fame of the Olympics now motivates drug cheats like Gusmao, like Olympic champ Marion Jones (just out of federal prison), and like many world champion athletes to become drug cheats. Apparently the 'sacrifice' is worth the tragic outcomes.

On to the Paralympic games in Beijing for physically disabled athletes like Oscar Pistorius who came within inches of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics, despite double leg amputations. Pakistan weightlifter Naveed Ahmed Butt tested positive for doping even in the Paralympics. Athletes who in a sense were cheated by nature, but courageously train to compete in high level athletic endeavors, fall victim to drug cheats too. Is nothing scared anymore?

And lastly, the multiple-winner of the Tour de France, and worldwide celebrity, Lance Armstrong appears to be arousing from retirement to ride again in 5 races in 2009, including the Tour. Volumes of arguments discussing Armstrong's possible doping oi win in a steroid and EPO soaked sports continue to spew out of cycling enthusiasts even today before the Armstrong comeback was announced. Armstrong's experience is not uncommon in modern sports: bitter controversy whenever an athlete performs in a remarkable competitive feat. This issue - that scientific advancements in drugs and training and equipment have far outstripped the ethical issues over these technological achievements to expand human performance. Soon science will be able to alter the basis of biology -- DNA and genes -- for medicine and for physical performance. Hopefully before that time, sport will come to grips with the ethics of performance enhancement before compete biological chaos envelops the Olympics, the Tour de France, the MLB and the NFL.