Beyond What’s Possible: The State of the Art of Athletic Doping

Ever since ancient Greek Olympians downed exotic meats, “magic” potions, and animal hearts and testicles, athletes have tried to improve their performances by consuming special substances. Such behavior wasn’t considered cheating back in ancient times, and this attitude continued into the modern revival of the games. When a runner named Thomas Hicks famously won the 1904 Olympic marathon after drinking brandy and strychnine, nobody considered taking the medal away. (They did, however, strip the medal from the guy who originally came in first, who drove much of the way.) The early, would-be performance enhancers were, for the most part, thought of as legitimate cures for ordinary ailments.

That attitude changed with the advent of modern, synthetic chemicals like human growth hormone and steroids, which can give athletes big advantages—and many of which endanger people’s long-term health. During the Cold War, the rivalry between as a “drug cheat.”