Anabolic Steroids: An Olympic-sized Impression

As a youth football coach and the father of two young, impressionable athletes, I find the entire topic of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) to be absolutely appalling. There is just something about steroids and the permanent place that they now seem to have in our society (and our favourite sporting events) that simply rubs me the wrong way. Then again, prior to coaching and fatherhood, I had always been a very strong advocate against the use of PED’s, whether it be in sport or in life.

Back in 1987 when I was 14-years old, I was fortunate enough to gain employment at a local gym in my hometown of Fort Erie. Being a “gym rat” was a great job to have as a young person and looking back, I enjoyed it very much. I had the opportunity to train and learn alongside some tremendously gifted athletes and community leaders. I learned a lot about fitness and I learned a lot about myself.

Something else that I had learned a lot about was a little something called “steroids.”

As a young boy, I was relatively unaware of the existence of steroids up until that point. Eventually however, through working at the gym, I got to know quite few guys who bought, used and/or sold steroids on a regular basis. At one point, I had even been offered steroids (remember – I was only 14 at the time) but as curious as I was, I just couldn’t wrap my head around the notion that I would have to inject a needle into myself.

No thank you!

Back then, steroids were quite common and seemingly very easy to obtain. Over the years, it eventually got to be so that I had as many friends who smoked cigarettes as tried steroids. Like I said, they were very common and they didn’t really strike me as being all that big of a deal (at the time). As time passed however, it became quite clear to me that steroids were becoming a much bigger and much more serious problem.

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By 1988, a beloved Canadian sprinter by the name of Ben Johnson set consecutive 100 metre world records at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics. Every single Canadian was extremely proud of Ben Johnson and the national pride with which he had gifted us.

Unfortunately (in case you didn’t already know), Johnson was later disqualified for testing positive for anabolic steroids, thus losing the Olympic title and both of his records. It was a devastating turn of events for both Johnson and for all Canadians.

Ben Johnson, our national hero, was a “cheater.”

Suddenly, steroid abuse and a better understanding of how they allowed athletes to acquire an unfair advantage in sports had hit the main stage – big time! It’s all that I remember anyone had talked about for weeks and weeks on end. It was crazy.

What I still find a bit hilarious (not really – more sad than anything) was how Ben Johnson went from being “Canadian” (setting world records) to being “Jamaican” (testing positive for steroids) in just the matter of a day. An entire country felt betrayed and a deep, unforgiving shame was cast onto Mr. Johnson. I would even venture to guess that the entire world felt ashamed by Ben Johnson’s actions (meanwhile, in retrospect, most of the other athletes were all probably using steroids as well – they just didn’t get caught).

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I wish that I could say that things have changed a great deal since the 80’s. I wish that I could say that the lessons learned from Ben Johnson stuck with an entire generation of athletes who all learned from his mistakes and vowed never to use PED’s. But the reality is that I could (or your teenage child could) walk down to any gym right now and obtain a wide variety of PED’s. No exaggeration needed (unfortunately). Steroids are more popular and readily accessible than ever.

Our society is definitely declining when it comes to this issue and it is our children who will suffer the most because of it.

Something else that hasn’t changed much over the years is the social stigma (shame) that steroids carry with them. I know that steroid users think that everyone who criticizes them are probably just jealous of them and their incredibly wonderful and attractive physiques, but the reality is that myself and hundreds of thousands of other people on this planet who remember the 1988 Olympics with heavy hearts, find it near impossible to maintain any level of respect to those individuals who hide their accomplishments behind a gigantic wall of lies.

As a former young athlete with serious Olympic dreams, I can honestly say that the impression that the 1988 Olympics left on me was one of incredible influence. I vowed from that day forward that I would never let an anabolic steroid (used for the sole purpose of competitive athletic enhancement) enter into my system.

Thanks Ben.

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These are my opinions. If you don’t like them… I have others. Check them out at www.coachjamesryan.com