Before 1935 no one knew about the connection of anabolic steroids with the accumulation of muscle mass. This year, two researchers, working with dogs, found that testosterone in certain conditions can increase muscle mass. It is believed that Hitler had used anabolic steroids to his soldiers to increase their aggressiveness, but it has a weak confirmed documentation.
The modern history of anabolic steroids began in 1954, including Olympic weightlifting. In 1956, Dianabol (methandrostenolone) first appeared in the American market, paving the way of anabolics among American athletes. Initially, only a world-class athletes in power sports such as weightlifting used anabolics. Among the Olympic athletes using anabolic steroids were a problem until 1964. Athletes and their coaches respected the high doses of mixtures of different anabolic steroids, not scientifically valid. These methods of intake transmitted orally from one group of athletes to the next. Even now, the intake of many types of steroids in high doses has never been tested in scientific research.
Athletes who took anabolic steroids, did not trust the opinion of science regarding the use of steroids in large quantities. When it was first noted as a growing problem, some scientists and officials said that there is no evidence that steroids cause muscle growth or improved efficiency, and that the use of steroids in large quantities cause massive, monstrous side effects at all, without exception.These statements have not coincided with the general opinion and experience of most athletes, no one saw that their fellow chemists fell dead at every turn. Thus, scientific information has simply discredited itself among athletes.
With the growing reputation of anabolic steroids, their use spread to other sports. Now only two Olympic disciplines are considered “clean”: women’s field hockey and figure skating. Use of steroids were spread among the Olympians in the 70’s and 80’s. In 1983, nineteen athletes were disqualified for using steroids. In 1970 a survey of five American universities showed that 15% of student-athletes had used steroids. By 1984 this figure had risen to 20%. In 1975, the use of anabolic steroids in high schools of Arizona was 0.7%. In November 1990, the U.S. law, all anabolic steroids were classified as controlled dangerous drugs (CDS).
