The drugs are a fact of life in sports so lets make them legitimate and safe - Bodybuilding, Fitness and Health Forum Axiolabs and Syntrop Steroids Board

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The drugs are a fact of life in sports so lets make them legitimate and safe

By Kate Schmidt

The media and the public have savaged American athletes for using steroids. The case of track and field icon Marion Jones is the most recent. Last week, she tearfully returned her three gold and two bronze medals to the U.S. Olympic Committee after admitting that she used steroids to enhance her performance.

Much of the criticism of Jones and others caught using steroids is unfair. There is a disconnect between what the sports-viewing public knows and expects and what is actually going on. Fans have created such high expectations for athletes that success seems to require steroid use for any sport requiring speed, power or a combination of the two. The genie is out of the bottle -- for good.

This was not always the case. When I was competing, some athletes used performance-enhancing drugs, but most didn't. I never did and still established American and world records in the javelin throw. Yet my world record was surpassed by an East German who participated in a program famous for pharmacological enhancements.

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