could this be the reason for the time line?

[Pullcounter]

what's the date on his article?

[go1nbanana]

Androgenic Anabolic Steroids (AASs) and Testosterone

AASs are specialized derivatives of the male hormone testosterone. They increase protein synthesis and when coupled with training and proper nutrition increase lean muscle mass.
There are many types of AASs for different medical uses. Not all AASs are performance enhancing. Some AASs enhance swimming strength, tolerance for anaerobic work, and shorten recovery time. They respond differentially to specific exercise stresses producing augmentations in locally stressed body functions. Their effects in females and adolescent males are dramatic. In mature male swimmers, AAS effects are markedly reduced. These are still the drugs chosen by modern-day cheaters and cheating nations in swimming. Developments in their use have progressed even during this current decade.
It is now possible to use water-soluble AASs or equivalent substances that can be radically purged from the body within 24 hours. High body fluid turnover causes an erratic presence of these AASs in swimmers. However, it is felt that water-soluble substances are not as effective as those that are fat-soluble. The current trend is to return to using fat-soluble AASs because of their more reliable and lasting presence in the body under high levels of exercise stress. When fat-soluble AASs are used it often is necessary to use masking agents, principally diuretics, to dilute the concentration of prohibited substances in urine, and to accelerate their purging from the body prior to testing. Very recent Russian and Chinese cheats have tested positive for using diuretic masking agents. To completely avoid detection, it is necessary to stop using fat-soluble AASs often several months before a competition where drug testing will be performed.
One difficult feature of AAS administration is it should be used as close as possible to competitions. Since individuals have different response rates to both AASs and purging, unless every athlete performs a carefully evaluated and verified regimen it is likely that some mistakes will be made. For example, the mere fact that four Chinese swimmers tested positive at the 1998 Perth World Championships for the masking agent triamterene does not necessarily mean they were the only ones using drugs on that occasion. They were possibly the only ones "unlucky" enough to be caught because of inexact preparatory schedules. At those championships the Chinese refused to be tested on a Thursday night because the testers from the Australian Sports Drug Authority did not produce official credentials. Testing was delayed until the following day. It would have been interesting to see if more Chinese swimmers would have tested positive on the Thursday. The extra day's delay could have had great effects on the level of purging effectiveness for other individuals.
Testosterone. Testosterone is available in natural and synthetic forms. Synthetic forms have different arrays of carbon-13 atoms to natural testosterone. A normal balance of testosterone to epitestosterone expressed as a ratio (T/E) is roughly 1:1, slightly higher for males and lower for females. Pathological disorders often increase the ratio to as high as 3:1. Drug testing uses the criterion of 6:1 for declaring a positive result, which indicates an exceptionally high concentration of augmented natural or synthetic testosterone. With positive results, reasons of medical pathology are sought but without evidence of any condition, the result is treated similarly to detected AASs.
Substances such as alcohol and birth control pills affect the T/E ratio. At best it is a "*******" approach to locating signs of cheating. If a positive test is revealed, then the athlete must really be "juiced" on testosterone or a new derivative. When there are no tests for specific forms of steroids it is possible to pass the T/E test but still be cheating. Alternatively, it is possible to test positive for an anabolic steroid but pass the T/E ratio test. To avoid T/E positives, some cheats also increase epitestosterone levels (through injection or topical application) to reduce the ratio since both substances will be elevated but in acceptable balance.
Testosterone esters are especially important since they are undetectable alternatives that maintain the effects of steroid use during the period prior to competition testing when continued steroid use would produce positive tests. The East Germans perfected this by using repeated intramuscular injections. It accounts for the ability of almost all East German athletes to avoid detection. This procedure is still used today in other countries.
Three cases of swimmers' excessive T/E ratios have been recorded by FINA. There have been many other times when measured ratios have approached but not surpassed the 6:1 ratio. For example, at the Hiroshima surprise testing of Chinese swimmers in October 1994, when five swimmers recorded positive test results, a further five swimmers measured close to the 6:1 ratio.
The T/E test was regularly performed by East German sports medicine officials on swimmers. On August 9, 1989 (Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, December, 1994, p. 51), the celebrated Kristin Otto returned a reading of 17:1, Daniela Hunger 12.5:1, Dagmar Hase, 10:1, and Heike Friedrich 8.8:1, each being a part of the now confirmed institutional use of AASs in East German swimming.
Related Substances. Beta agonists are found in commonly prescribed asthma treatments and primarily are stimulants. However, some substances have anabolic properties, especially when taken orally or by injection. Those properties are lessened when taken by inhalation. With written permission, some beta-agonists are allowed only in inhaled form.


Medical risks and symptoms. AASs interfere with the interactions between hypothalamic, pituitary, and gonadal functions producing dangerous effects that in extreme cases lead to tumors and psychiatric syndromes. Symptoms may be:

• In adult males: Acne, increase in aggressiveness and ***ual appetite, eventual impotence, kidney and liver dysfunction, testicular atrophy and ***** reduction, breast enlargement, baldness, prostate gland enlargement and inflammation.
  
• In adolescent males: Severe facial and body acne, premature closure of long bone epiphyses therefore stunting growth.
  
• In females: Masculinization, abnormal menstruation, excessive hair growth, clitoral enlargement, voice deepening, kidney and liver dysfunction. [Effects in females are more likely to be permanent than in males.]

Use in swimming. AASs are the most frequently used drugs for enhancing training and competitive performances. There are several behavioral symptoms that indicate the use of AASs.


1. Unannounced testing is refused (as occurred at the 1998 Perth World Championships with Chinese swimmers).
2. Swimmers being "unavailable" or hiding from testing (as occurred with several Chinese medalists at the 1994 World Championships in Rome).
3. Sudden and unnatural improvements in performances in important competitions, particularly in all form strokes and crawl stroke events of 400 m or less, followed by few if any further improvements throughout a swimmer's career.
4. In the absence of medical reasons, remarkable declines in performance at important competitions after termination of drug use (as occurred with Chinese swimmers at the Atlanta Olympic Games and the 1998 Perth World Championships).
5. Claims by related swimming officials of ridiculous causes for improvements such as esoteric diets ("caterpillar fungus soup"), superior cultural characteristics ("Chinese women are tougher"), training methods ("Our use of science is superior') and levels of work ("we work harder"), and emphatic denials ("Chinese swimmers do not cheat") of any "national" team member's usage.


Among competitive swimmers, the types of AASs and the number of positive tests recorded are as follows: unknown (22), testosterone (2), methandienone (6), dihydrotestosterone (6), nandrolone (1), methyltestosterone (1), and mesterolone (1). The large number of unknowns is due to the inability of this writer to gain access to original reports.

this is sounding like sour-graping against chinese swimmers than anything else. article is isolating just the chinese.

[p4p-champ]

this is sounding like sour-graping against chinese swimmers than anything else. article is isolating just the chinese.

Yes, we should ignore all the important facts stated.

[go1nbanana]

this is the reason for the lawsuit. whatever (test result negative or not, random testing or not), manny's reputation is tainted.

[go1nbanana]

who said it was ignored?

[Joeyzagz]

A second complicating factor is that introduced EPO only lasts in the body for a short time (as little as 24 hours) but its stimulus effect continues for as long as two weeks. Unless a test is conducted when the EPO is present, for example, one day in fourteen among consistent users, accurate testing will miss it. This reduced probability of positive testing makes its use particularly attractive to individuals who participate in dominantly aerobic fatiguing sports.

Yup thats it. THe factthat Pac is dodging makes me su****ious.

[two_guns]

what's the date on his article?

it's old ,like 1998 or something.

[Pullcounter]

it's old ,like 1998 or something.

wow... how about finding something up to date.

[IMDAZED]

Great, great find. If roids were this up to snuff in 1998, what are they now??

[two_guns]

wow... how about finding something up to date.

dude like i said .i was bored and found this.i found it interesting.