Georges Laraque said he fought not only against the National Hockey League’s toughest players, but also against the use of performance enhancing drugs, in his career spanning 13 years.

“Quite early in my career I started asking the (National Hockey League Players’ Association) to take action against all the performance enhancing drugs some players would use to become bigger in order to stop feeling the pain,” Laraque writes in The Story of the NHL’s Unlikeliest Tough Guy, a new autobiography, excerpts of which were reprinted in the Toronto Star.

From Montrealgazette.com:

“The job was hard and harsh enough not to have to compete against ‘killers’ swollen with steroids. The NHLPA listened to me, but refused to take any action on that front, for obvious political reasons. They wanted to keep drug testing as a card in their negotiations with the league.”

Laraque, who piled up 1,126 penalty minutes as one of the NHL’s most feared fighters, writes that the use of drugs created an uneven playing field for pugilists.

“The use of steroids by tough guys makes it unfair for the ones who decide to remain clean,” he writes.

“In my final years in the NHL, the league finally decided to set clear and precise rules against the use of any performance enhancing drugs,” he writes. “I was relieved, and found it funny how much weight some players had lost in just one year.”

Tags:  Georges Laraque, National Hockey League, performance-enhancing drugs, use of drugs, use of steroids

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The former Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ player, Jordan Matechuk, has taken complete responsibility for his actions that included facing sentencing for his arrest and subsequent admission of guilt for being caught with performance enhancing drugs and recreational drugs.

In an exclusive phone interview with Sportsnet.ca from his residence just outside of Winnipeg, Matechuk spoke solemnly and quietly about his wrongdoing.

From Sportsnet.ca:

Matechuk, a 25-year-old native of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, was arrested and charged on May 31st by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan after he was discovered in possession of a total of 543 anabolic steroid pills, 262 millilitres of anabolic steroids in liquid form, 1.25 grams of marijuana, 19 syringes, and 51 replacement needles.

He was en route to the Tiger-Cats training camp at the time of his arrest.

Subsequent to the initial news of his arrest, the Hamilton Spectator reported that county prosecutors charged Matechuk with two counts of possession of a controlled substance – one relating to Oxycontin, the other to steroids – both of which are felonies.

“I’d like to send out a sincere apology to the Tiger-Cats franchise, the CFL, my teammates, coaching staff, peers within the league, my family and friends for the situation I’m in,” Matechuk said.

Tags:  anabolic steroid pills, Anabolic steroids, Jordan Matechuk, performance-enhancing drugs, Steroids

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Permission has been sought from all schools in South Africa by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport to test school children as often as possible for illegal performance enhancing drugs.

The permission request was made after the revelation of a huge increase in schoolboy rugby players using illegal anabolic steroids.

From iol.co.za:

Tests conducted by Joburg company Drug Detection International on pupils at 18 of the country’s top schools found 21 out of 130 pupils – almost one in six – tested positive for illegal steroids.

Commissioned independently by various schools, Drug Detection International sent urine samples for analysis to a forensic laboratory in the US.

They found positive results for two pupils of St Albans, Pretoria; three pupils of King Edward VII in Joburg; and found that one boy from St John’s in Joburg had twice the amount of testosterone levels for a teenager his age.

Fifteen of the other pupils who tested positive were from private schools in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. At least 12 were caught with banned steroids in their possession.

Director of the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport Dr Shuaib Manjra said, “We need a legislative framework or, alternatively, a consensus policy for all schools to abide by. Once we have jurisdiction, then we require resources to introduce these programmes into schools, this would include education, testing and prosecution. We also require parental consent.”

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, performance-enhancing drugs, rugby, Steroids, testosterone

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The baseball home run king, Barry Bonds, made use of steroids from a lab that was able to attract other athletes because of his involvement.

A federal prosecutor revealed this fact during the perjury trial of Bonds.

From Slam.canoe.ca:

Bonds, 46, who has pleaded not guilty to lying about use of performance-enhancing drugs, dressed in a dark suit with a light blue shirt and matching tie and conferred amicably with his team of five attorneys before the trial got under way.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew A. Parrella began by detailing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), whose head pleaded guilty to providing illegal performance enhancing drugs to professional athletes.

The Bonds case is one of the last strands in a lengthy investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. Doping revelations tarnished the reputation of baseball, known as America’s national pastime.

The Assistant U.S. Attorney promised to provide eyewitnesses who saw Anderson injecting Bonds, and evidence of anabolic steroids that were found in Anderson’s home and premises of BALCO.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, BALCO, Barry Bonds, baseball, performance-enhancing drugs, Steroids

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Linford Christie, Olympic gold medalist, will address the Parliament’s committee investigating the performance enhancing drugs.

Two scholars, Roger Maughan, of Loughborough University, and Julian Savulescu of Oxford, will also address the committee.

From Guardian.co.uk:

MPs say the inquiry focuses on the opportunities and problems presented by the increasing availability of technologies capable of enhancing sporting performance, including use of performance enhancing drugs, gene doping and technological devices.

The inquiry will be launched next month with a seminar, which will be addressed by Mr Christie, 100m gold medallist in 1992 who later tested positive for nandrolone and was banned for two years.

He is now a coach who runs his own consultancy and marketing agency, which has declined to comment on his appearance at the Commons.

“They wanted him to be the person who did it [the address]. I don’t think he has much to say about it in advance,” said a spokeswoman.

The Commons Science and Technology Committee is carrying out the study of human enhancement technologies in sport in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.

Tags:  gene doping, Linford Christie, London Olympic, Nandrolone, performance-enhancing drugs

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Linford Christie, the Olympic gold medalist, will be addressing a committee of MPs which is looking into performance enhancing drugs.

Two academics, Roger Maughan, of the University of Loughborough, and Julian Savulescu, of Oxford, will also be addressing the committee.

From Guardian.co.uk:

MPs say the inquiry focuses on the opportunities and problems presented by the increasing availability of technologies capable of enhancing sporting performance, including use of performance enhancing drugs, gene doping and technological devices.

The inquiry will be launched next month with a seminar, which will be addressed by Mr Christie, 100m gold medallist in 1992 who later tested positive for nandrolone and was banned for two years.

He is now a coach who runs his own consultancy and marketing agency, which has declined to comment on his appearance at the Commons.

“They wanted him to be the person who did it [the address]. I don’t think he has much to say about it in advance,” said a spokeswoman.

The Commons science and technology committee is undertaking an inquiry into human enhancement technologies in sport in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Tags:  gene doping, Linford Christie, London Olympic, Nandrolone, performance-enhancing drugs

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ESPN/ABC’s Brent Musburger spoke to students at the University of Montana recently said that steroids work and could be used at the professional level. The statement clearly suggests that the bad side of anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs, often portrayed by the media, is nothing but a false image.

Anabolic steroids have no place in high school athletics, added Musburger.

From Hardballtalk.nbcsports.com:

He went on to say that while anabolic steroids have no place in high school athletics, “I think under the proper care and doctor’s advice, they could be used at the professional level,”

This will likely have a lot of you fuming, but after reading the whole story I think he makes a lot of sense.  It is undisputed that steroids do, in certain situations, bring with them medical benefits. The biggest problem with steroids — aside from the fact that using them violates the rules — is that they can be dangerous if abused or overused.

But what if we had good evidence that, if taken in X dosage by someone in good health, they weren’t harmful at all?  What if, under proper medical supervision, they proved to be no different than cortisone shots and vitamin regimens and things like that? Or, if you want to get right down to it, what if they posed risks, but risks that were reasonable enough to where weighing them against the potential to make millions playing sports made taking them worth it?

We don’t have good enough information on this because there haven’t — at least as far as I know — been comprehensive studies in which the effects were tested on healthy, athletic adults. A lot of the reason there hasn’t been such tests, I bet, is because there’s such a stigma and hysteria attached to them.

The crux is that side effects of steroids happen with overuse and abuse, and not “proper” use.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, high school athletics, performance-enhancing drugs, side effects of steroids, Steroids

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Alex Rodriguez, popularly known as A-Rod, who recently became the seventh and youngest player in Major League Baseball history to hit 600 career home runs is still crumbling under pressure to prove his critics wrong as he is always associated with anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs.

Rodriguez told Suzyn Waldman of WCBS Radio that he feels depressed when his name is always associated with steroids.

From NYtimes.com:

Rodriguez is part of a quartet of sluggers who carry the scarlet letter S on their broad backs. The retired stars Barry Bonds (the career leader with 762 homers), Sammy Sosa (609) and Mark McGwire (583) are all linked, to one degree or another, to performance-enhancing drugs.

They are stacked up in the stratosphere, waiting to see if the writers who vote for membership in the Hall will ultimately accept them. At the moment, there are no guarantees. McGwire, who has been eligible for four years, eked his way up to 24 percent in January, far short of the 75 percent needed for admission.

This overt withholding of honor is the legacy of a steroid era that began in the last decade, when McGwire, Sosa and Bonds all had surprisingly high home run totals at ages when most great sluggers are tailing off. Steroids were illegal by federal law and by edict of Major League Baseball, although no testing was in place during their peak years.

On his own, Rodriguez brought up his link with steroids Wednesday after the Yankees defeated Toronto, 5-1, at Yankee Stadium.

A-Rod may not find it easy to gain entry into the Hall of Fame once he becomes eligible five years after retirement due to his past links with steroids.

Tags:  A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, Anabolic steroids, Barry Bonds, Hall of Fame, Major League Baseball, Mark McGwire, performance-enhancing drugs, Sammy Sosa, steroid era, Steroids

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Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, the Jamaican 400m runner, has been banned for two years after she was found using performance enhancing drugs by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association.

According to Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, Wilkins will be barred from competition until April 2012.

From Guardian.co.uk:

The Jamaican 400m runner Bobby-Gaye Wilkins has been banned for two years for using a performance-enhancing substance.

Warren Blake of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association says the athlete will be barred from competition until April 2012.

Wilkins tested positive for the banned substance andranine at the world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, in March.

She was a member of the Jamaican 4×400m relay team who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Wilkins won the Olympic bronze in 4×400m relay team.

Tags:  andranine, Beijing Olympics, performance-enhancing drugs

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Barry Bonds tested positive for anabolic steroids three times in 2000 and 2001, as per hundreds of documents filed by the government.

The prosecutors said that Bonds also tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003, which was confirmed by a urine test supplied by Bonds.

From Espnstar.com:

Bonds is scheduled to be tried on 10 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice related to his BALCO grand jury testimony.

Bonds testified to a federal grand jury in 2003 that he used the “cream” and the “clear” but did not know that they were performance-enhancing drugs. The urine samples could prove the existence of other steroids in his body.

During testimony, Bonds said he never took steroids. The government alleges that Bonds lied under oath and that at least two of his positive tests stemmed from injections of steroids.

Bonds steadfastly denied during his testimony that he has been injected by his former personal trainer, Greg Anderson.

Bonds will be arraigned Thursday, after which his lawyers will be looking to exclude much of the government’s evidence. In a motion filed last week, Bonds’ attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who is presiding over the perjury case, to suppress several pieces of evidence, including those 2003 urine samples.

According to the New York Times, Bonds provided samples that did not test positive under baseball drug testing program but those samples, when tested again by federal authorities after they seized them in a 2004 raid, revealed positive drug results.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, BALCO, Barry Bonds, performance-enhancing drugs, Steroids

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