Early into 2006, Barry Bonds had gained the spotlight in a new legal issue: is he guilty of perjury? When asked to testify in the BALCO case, Bonds, along with other athletes identified to have been involved in the distribution and use of steroids, earned immunity from charges as long as he told the truth to the grand jury. Throughout the investigation, he insisted that he was clean; that he trusted his trainer Greg Anderson would never give him illegal drugs; that at most, he never asked whether the substances he used were steroids or not. But developments into that case proved Anderson guilty of distributing steroids, upon his own admission and with evidence from the investigating officers. Where does that leave Bonds now? It April 2006, the federal prosecutor began looking into the new case, of Bonds lying under oath in that 2003 inquiry. Analysts see such gesture as a mayday for the athlete, for no prosecutor initiates perjury cases without strong conviction at proving it; while Bonds’ lawyers see it as a direct attack at their client, who for them the government has been trying to pin down.

Indeed, on November 15, 2006, he was charged with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Conviction of these charges will land him a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment – a fate no less tragic than losing a limb, disabling him to play baseball anymore. Such charges were on the basis of earlier investigation proving him positive for using performance enhancing substances, including anabolic steroids – a sharp contrast to his firm and consistent statement before the grand jury, as well as the media, and even the fans, that he did not use them.

But Bonds’ bad luck has yet to run out. In May of this year, he was re-indicted to new charges. Tossing the prior summary of charges, this time he faces 15 counts of felony – 14 for false declarations and one for obstruction of justice. This is the result of treating the incidents as separate instances of lying under oath, rather than grouping them. Bonds and his lawyers still insist that he is innocent.

In the arraignment on August 25, 2008, Bonds pleaded not guilty to all charges. He maintains not using steroids. In addition, he prayed for the dismissal of 10 of the 15 charges. His lawyers argue that several of the statements he gave to the jury, which were now being questioned, were ambiguous answers to ambiguous questions. He denies lying to the grand jury n the first place, and more so of lying repeatedly. Set for trial in March 2 of next year, Bonds can only hope that the court favors his request.

Even without final judgment, however, Bonds seemed to already been found guilty – San Francisco Giants a month before formal charges were served him have already refused to renew his contract. It had been quite an issue in the Major League Baseball that after the San Francisco Giants decided to let Bonds go from the team, no other team offered him a spot. In fact, the MLB Players Association even considered filing a collusion grievance against these teams. At 43, however, and even in the face of the biggest scandal in his career, Bonds is not leaving the game and has instead decided to play as a free agent.

Steroids nowadays have been referred to as drugs, and those that are found out positively using them are usually banned or disqualified especially in sports. But steroids are not that bad. Usually, the anabolic, or anabolic androgenic, types are the ones that are referred to as those harmful yet useful for stamina boosting activities. Although these are usually prescribed to some who continually lose lean muscle mass, these are the same stuff being eyed and screened of athletes. These are synthetic male hormone testosterone that when taken, can grow male sexual tract and characteristics in the body. They can also increase the energy and speed of an individual between or even without taking a break in exercises. Therefore, they can use it to their advantage during the game. The Corticosteroids, like cortisone or prednisone, are those steroids that are usually prescribed by doctors to control inflammation in the body. It can cure, treat or alleviate very harmful diseases like skin conditions, menopause, andropause (male menopause), anti-aging (youthful rejuvenation), liver problems, cardiovascular problems, asthma, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, Meniere`s disease, tinnitus, and vertigo all benefiting from this intensive treatment. In addition Hormone Balancing, Good Blood Circulation ,Anti Bodies ,Collagen productivity, Hay fever, Allergy and good for pimples.

The use of harmful steroids in sports has become very prevalent. In fact, many celebrities who have been in the business for so many years have been shamed, banned, and/suspended from their passion just because they were proven to be positive with these harmful drugs. Some of the commonly used steroids in the sports arena are Androstenedione or what is known in the street name of Andro, Tetrahydrogestrinone  orTHG, Clenbuterol or Clen, DHEA or dehydroepiandrosterone, Anadrol or oxymetholone, Oxandrin or oxandrolone, Dianabol or methandrostenolone, Winstrol or Stanozolol, Deca-Durabolin or nandrolone decanoate, Durabolin or nandrolone phenpropionate, Depo-Testosterone or testosterone cypionate, and Equipoise or boldenone undecylenate. All of these can be prescribed for disease treatment or to alleviate a particular injury; but when taken 10 times higher than that prescribed, it becomes harmful to the body as well as to the individual.

Athletes and even ordinary people known to be abusive of these drugs experienced so many life changing effects to life threatening once. Among the most common to men are infertility, breast development, shrinking of the testicles, male-pattern baldness, and severe acne and cysts. Women have also experienced deeper voice, enlargement of the clitoris, excessive growth of body hair, male-pattern baldness, and severe acne and cysts.

Other effects of using steroids are delayed growth in adolescents, tendon rupture, increased LDL cholesterol, decreased HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks, enlargement of the heart’s left ventricle, cancer, jaundice, fluid retention, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, “roid rage” - rage and aggression, mania, and delusions.  Athletes who are within the withdrawal period from these steroids can also experience mood swings, depression, fatigue and irritability, loss of appetite, insomnia, and aggression. If neglected, these symptoms can even lead to more horrifying occurrences like suicide attempts if not supervised by an expert.

Two Asian Olympians were tested positive for performance-enhancer drugs banned from their respective games. The Sunday Morning Gerald along with the other online news sources identifies these two Asians as North Korean Kim Jong-Su for shooting double and Vietnamese Thi Ngan Thuong for artistic gymnast. Both of them were disqualified from the Beijing Olympic Games according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Apart from being barred, Kim was also stripped of his two medals reported by Karolos Grohmann in The Sunday Morning Gerald. Kim won silver in the 50 metre pistol in men’s division while he got bronze in the 10m air pistol shooting. But after the incident, his silver medal in the 50m was handed to Tan Zongliang of China; the bronze was handed to Vladimir Isakov of Russia. Meanwhile, his bronze medal in the 10m air pistol was handed to Jason Turner of United States.

According to the IOC spokeswoman, Kim was discovered positive for beta-blocker prophanol. This drug functions in decreasing the heart rate and impede possible trembling. Arne Ljungqvist, IOC medical commission chairman, said the involvement of Kim to steroid use is apparently an intentional act because the substance is intended to give out precision characteristics to the user like it greatly helps in steadying the hands, such characteristics is essential for sports like shooting or archery.

Essentially, Beta Blockers are clearly explained on the blog site of Simon On Sports saying these are the kind of drugs that hinder beta-adrenergic substances like adrenaline in the “sympathetic” part of the involuntary nervous system. As they block the sympathetic nervous system on the heart, beta blockers vitally relieve heart tension and stress. So, the user will be relaxed during the pressure circumstances. Apparently, for a shooter like Kim using this drug is very beneficial for he can keep his hand fixed and strike his goal.
On the other hand, Thuong Do, who also won her medals, was banned for testing positive for banned drugs said by IOC spokeswoman. She got a positive result for furosemide, a “water pill” used as a masking means for other drugs as it dilutes urine. However, Ljungqvist said the female gymnast might only be a victim of lack of information since the drug was also applicable for the premenstrual tension of women.

The treating effects of Ferusemide was explained in the Wiley InterScience, an international resource for content on the spectrum of scientific and medical endeavors, by saying that this drug serves in giving out a relative treatment to women’s menstrual and pregnancy.

With this, Ljungqvist were able to understand the possible situation that might have occurred to the Vietnamese gymnast by saying: “My interpretation is this was probably the result of poor information given to the athlete, who did not have the knowledge of what to avoid and what she was allowed to take.” Unfortunately, the ignorance of the Vietnamese gymnast was not valid as an excuse so she was still banned from the game though her possible purpose for taking the drug is actually for treatment.

Giselle Davies, reporter of Daily News, said both athletes were referred to their associations for any other possible sanctions after the incident.

Since the time of bodybuilders up to these days, steroids remain in the track; rushing into the most controversial steroid scandal Olympics and sporting history.  David Schussler featured in All News, US News, and Sports News how great is the impact of steroids to the Sports world and as to how it is perceived as food of today’s champions.

According to Schussler, it was only a month ago since 2008 Beijing Olympics was formally opened but numbers of issues concerning to steroids use have came out from it already; the same issues that have been heard for almost two decades now. This is why more and more athletes, both amateur and professional, are being exposed to the use of steroids. Its rampant usage is provoking many athletes to improve their body and competitive performance for the game.

These days in fact, there are already lots of high profile examples who used steroids and were banned during Olympics, Schussler explained. He said that the utmost scandal that might have occurred in Olympics so far is the involvement of the two biggest names in track and field: Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis. These two are viewed to be two of the most leading Olympic athletes ever. Their involvement to the use of steroid ended up into the stripping of their gold medals including to the removal of their world record time and definitely the inevitable ban.

Sure, it is true that the use of steroid in athletics is no longer new. The records of performance-enhancing drugs usage in Olympics have been secretly practiced since the turn of the century.  However, Schussler uttered that the records for the contemporary times are really alarming; the lists of athletes involved in steroid use are growing. In fact, over 20 of the world’s leading athletes during the Athens Olympics were thrown out because of the doping violations. Many of the online news today also reveal the name of several athletes who were also rejected for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Additionally, stereotyping also arises for the people now; most men who are muscle bound are often suspected as steroid abuser. Same as for women, steroids abuse for women on the other hand is more visible as compared to men because of the evident physical changes that occur.

Apparently, the use of steroid has randomly increased, especially in sports. It is for this reason why Schussler also concluded that it will no longer be surprising to see other of the exceptional champions as dependents on these drugs as well—steroids have become the cream of the athletic excellence. People can testify that this scenario is no longer surprising these days; in fact, sometimes it appears more surprising to see athletes compete excellently without getting involved to the use of steroids—such athletes deserve full salute for excelling in the game without cheating.

The question now is will people, especially athletes, stick to what becomes the norm—the dependence to performance-enhancing drugs to top on the competition? Hopefully, the answer is no. Schussler emphasized in his writings that anyone can possibly excel in the game without using steroids and getting his body get abused by these chemical substances.  Steroids should never be the “Victuals of the Champions,” for the athletes who are using these are the ones who are the real weak and loser of the game

What:
Just what steroids are all about?

Steroids are basically group synthetic or even naturally occurring organic compounds based chemically steroid nucleus, which is a hydrogenated cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring system. This ring system is again composed of four rings that all in all are composed of seventeen carbon atoms. The human body is one of the main contributors of these nucleuses, having the corticosteroid hormones of the adrenal cortex or in more formal terms glucocorticoids or mineralocorticoids. The sex hormones is also a major contributor having found in higher quantities in one sex than in the other. The male sex hormones are androgens, which include testosterone; while the female sex hormones are estrogens and progesterone. Other contributors are all types of vitamins in the Vitamin D group or calciferol, the bile acids or ursodeoxycholic acid and analogues, the cardiac aglycones, sterols like cholesterol, toad poison, saponins, some carcinogenic hydrocarbons, and even some corticosteroid drugs like prednisone.

Who?
Who are supposed to consume steroids?

As a medicine for improving human life, as well as alleviating and/or treating human diseases and problems, steroids are for use of people suffering from acute and chronic diseases and imbalances in the hormonal system, musculoskeletal system, cardiovascular system, liver, skin, infection, and psychiatric problems.

There are three types of steroids group to be used by specific group of people too. The anabolic steroids derived from testosterone are recommended to use for those that have delayed puberty, fertility problems or some types of impotence, and even the horrific wasting of the body as effect by HIV-infection or other diseases. It is also very useful in growing men sexual hormones, so they are prescribed to those that had gone under transsexual operations. Then, it became known to increase muscle tissues and stimulate stamina. From then on, body builders and athletes were the major users of these steroids. The androgenic steroids were used to treat women suffering from osteoporosis in the older years, but due to some harmful effects, they were halted. Now, androgens are basically used to treat vascular manifestation of Behçet’s disease, hereditary angioedema, aplastic anemia, and itching of chronic biliary obstruction. The cortico steroids, on the other hand, are man-made medicines for inflammation and injuries. Corticosteroids, as technically termed by professionals, can treat many diseases that like asthma, eczema, allergies, arthritis, colitis and kidney troubles.

How?

How are steroids used?

Most steroids are consumed orally or by injection. Most commonly used steroids in the sport scene though are the oral ones, Anadrol or Oxymetholone, Oxandrin or Oxandrolone, Dianabol or Methandrostenolone, Winstrol or Stanozolol, Injectable steroids, Deca-Durabolin or Nandrolone decanoate, Durabolin or Nandrolone phenpropionate, Depo-Testosterone or Testosterone cypionate, and Equipoise or Boldenone undecyclenate. These are usually the easiest to find in the black market and are reputed for their strong effects very soon after taking them in. Although these steroids are known for their life threatening side effects, sports people and other abusers are still very much into them because of the common thought of they will not be into it permanently. But because of the good effects they are getting, these abusers became dependent to these steroids.

There are three types of steroids that are supposed to be used in improving human lives. The anabolic steroids are mostly used in developing muscles and body or weight. Medically, these steroids are supposed to bring good effects such as stimulating protein anabolism in debilitating illness and in acute renal failure, promoting growth in children with pituitary dwarfism and other growth disorders, retention of nitrogen and calcium may benefit patients with Osteoporosis and patients receiving corticosteroid therapy, and stimulate bone marrow function in hypoplastic anaemia.

The androgen steroids are used to combat impotence on men and enhancing male sexual characteristics. This type of steroid is prescribed to transsexual people as it can help them grow sexual tracts and male hormones. In the older times, they were also prescribed to treat osteoporosis in women, but nowadays, they are used for vascular manifestation of Behçet’s disease, hereditary angioedema, aplastic anemia, and itching of chronic biliary obstruction. Cortico steroids or Corticosteroids are mainly used for treatment of inflammation and injuries. This group also treats diseases like asthma, eczema, allergies, arthritis, colitis and kidney troubles.

The fact that steroids are medically helpful has compelled researchers to continue their pursuit to more relevant uses. Recently, anabolic steroids that are supposed to be called anabolic-androgenic steroids for the two types can both affect a person even if not consuming both, were found to be dangerous if used continuously and above the prescribed amount and period of use. These are the types of steroids that have been banned, unless prescribed by a certified professional, in sports people. Penalty for positive use includes suspension or/and disqualifications. Many big names and celebrity sports people have been shamed with the use and abuse of these medicines turned harmful drugs. But its use has not only been prevalent in the athletes’ world but even in ordinary people’s lives. In fact, the result of 2007 Monitoring the Future Study, a survey in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades students reported using steroids at least once in their lifetimes, shows that 1.5% of eighth graders, 1.8% of tenth graders, and 2.2% of twelfth graders have already used steroids. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2007 approximately 1.8% of young adults (ages 19–28) are lifetime users of steroids like pills or shots without a doctor’s prescription.

The biggest thing about these reports is the results of how easy one can obtain steroids without professional prescription. The results show that 17.0% of eighth graders, 27.7% of tenth graders, and 40.1% of twelfth graders have reported that steroids were “fairly easy” or “very easy” to obtain. And surprisingly, 57.4% of twelfth graders surveyed in 2007 have even reported that they have the knowledge that using steroids was a “great risk” in their lives. These have caused a lot of alarm that even Congress place d the use of anabolic steroids into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in 1991. Even professional sports leagues (including the Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League, and National Hockey League) have been alarmed with these results. So they have banned any athlete who is found to be using steroids to their unfair advantage.