Steroids

Sports Illustrated is reporting in this week's issue that disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson received injections of anabolic steroids in late May from a doctor on the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitt's. The magazine identified the physician as Jamie Astaphan, from whom Johnson had sought treatment for a hamstring pull suffered 10 days earlier. Astaphan denied the story to reporters in Toronto and again last night on ABC's "Nightline. " "These charges are totally untrue and unfounded," he said.

The NFL took steps yesterday to toughen its stance on the use of steroids, advising teams that players who test positive for steroid use a second time might be subject to disciplinary action. The warning was contained in commissioner Pete Rozelle's annual drug memo, sent yesterday to all NFL training camps. The 15-page document did not describe what kind of punitive measures would be established. "The language on steroids has been in the contract for over a year," said NFL spokesman Joe Browne.

Bodybuilders, weightlifters and powerlifters - men and women alike - have muscles packed on muscles, meticulously trained to snap to attention when pumped up under the bright lights of competition. Where does all that beef come from? A lot of it is from hard training, of course, but many believe there is a shortcut to Mount Olympus via a path paved with anabolic steroids. An estimated three million Americans - professional and amateur athletes in sports where strength is critical - use steroids illegally.

Washington Nationals manager Frank Robinson thinks steroids have created a "cloud over baseball" and that new penalties against steroid use aren't strong enough. In his most extensive comments to date on the topic, baseball's No. 5 all-time home-run hitter said yesterday many fans are willing to ignore steroid use because they enjoy the "home runs, the RBI, the big explosion offensively" of the last few years. "But I'll tell you one thing," Robinson added. "The players that play this game do care, and the players that have played this game care.

Ben Johnson admitted for the first time yesterday that he was a steroid user. The Canadian sprinter, who was stripped of a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul after he tested positive for the muscle-building drug, said at a government inquiry here that he began using steroids in 1981 after being urged to do so by his only coach, Charlie Francis. For the first three years that he took them, Johnson said, he did not even know they were called steroids. He took them, along with his vitamins, because his coach strongly encouraged him, he said.

Athletes and drugs have become an all-too-common combination. And while drugs and alcohol have ruined - and, in some cases, ended - the lives of college stars and professional players, another drug problem exists quietly in the background of athletics. In some cases, it has been given tacit approval. For more than a decade, anabolic steroids, drugs that cause rapid muscle development, have been used by professional and amateur athletes. The most noticeable users have been the competitive bodybuilders, whose glistening, articulated biceps and pectorals are the equipment of their sport.

Barry Bonds was randomly tested for steroids before San Francisco's game Friday night against Los Angeles. All major-league players must undergo the testing. "I'm glad this is finally happening," the Giants slugger told MLB.com. "They'll get the results and it will clear my name. " Meanwhile, the Giants fan who caught Bonds' 700th home run is being sued by another man who says he was the rightful owner of the ball. According to a restraining order to be filed in state court today, Timothy Murphy said Steve Williams stole the historic blast from him during a melee in the bleachers at SBC Park on Sept.

Five more Olympic weightlifters were suspended for failing drug tests, including two who were barred shortly before their competitions, the International Weightlifting Federation said yesterday. The athletes tested positive for steroids in compulsory pre-Olympic drug tests of all 260 weightlifters. The competitors expelled were Wafa Ammouri of Morocco, Zoltan Kecskes of Hungary, Viktor Chislean of Moldova, Pratima Kumari Na of India, and Sule Sahbaz of Turkey. The federation suspended Nan Aye Khine of Myanmar on Monday for failing a drug test following her fourth-place finish Saturday in the 48-kilogram, or 105-pound, class.

Prosecutors in San Diego say they suspect that Chargers linebacker Steve Foley was on steroids when he was shot three times by an off-duty police officer. "His history of aggressive and even violent contact with law enforcement indicates the possibility of more than mere alcohol involvement," criminal investigator Dan Nordell wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant. "[Steroids] can cause erratic behavior in those that use them. This has been given names like 'roid rage for the uncontrollable outbursts and violence experienced by some users.

Baseball players ended decades of opposition to mandatory drug testing yesterday by agreeing to be checked for illegal steroids starting next year. Under the proposal, which addresses one of the key issues in contract talks, players would be subjected to one or more unannounced tests in 2003 to determine the level of steroid use. If the survey showed "insignificant" use, a second round of tests would be set up in 2004 to verify the results. If more than 5 percent of the tests were positive in either survey, players would be randomly tested for 2 years.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - Steven Goff, the drifter handyman turned confessed killer, waited 23 years to admit killing 15-year-old Frederick "Rickey" Hart in the woods near Absegami High School, but his involvement in the death did not come as a surprise to local police. Goff, 41, known as a teenager to police for a string of burglaries and a steroid-distribution ring while a student at Absegami, was interviewed at the time of Hart's disappearance in May 1990, police sources said Wednesday.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - Steven Goff, the drifter handyman turned confessed killer, waited 23 years to admit killing 15-year-old Frederick "Rickey" Hart in the woods near Absegami High School, but his involvement in the death did not come as a surprise to local police. Goff, 41, known as a teenager to police for a string of burglaries and a steroid distribution ring while a student at Absegami, was interviewed at the time of Hart's disappearance in May 1990, police sources said Wednesday.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Mike Schmidt always comes to spring training armed with strong opinions, but the Hall of Fame third baseman did not want to get overly involved in talk about baseball's steroid era. Steroids took center stage last month when the Baseball Writers Association of America did not vote to induct any of the players on the Hall of Fame ballot. "I sort of ride the fence on that whole steroid era issue," Schmidt said. "I don't have a definite opinion like some of my fellow Hall of Famers.

ORLANDO MAGIC forward Hedo Turkoglu was suspended 20 games by the NBA on Wednesday after testing positive for steroids. The NBA said Turkoglu tested positive for methenolone, an anabolic steroid. He began serving the suspension Wednesday night when the Magic lost to the visiting Atlanta Hawks, 108-76. Josh Smith led the Hawks with 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Jameer Nelson and Andrew Nicholson scored 10 points each for the Magic. Turkoglu said he took medication from a trainer in Turkey this past summer to help him recover from a shoulder injury and mistakenly neglected to check it against the league's list of banned substances.

IF THE EXCERPTS are any indication, Mike Piazza's memoir, "Long Shot," could be a hit. In snippets published Sunday by the New York Times , the former major league catcher gives insight into a number of issues concerning his career. On rumors that he is gay, Piazza - who is married to former Playboy Playmate Alicia Rickter - writes, "If I was gay, I'd be gay all the way. " Piazza denies he used steroids, writing, "It shouldn't be assumed that every big hitter of the generation used steroids.

RAVENS LINEBACKER Ray Lewis was probably prepared to talk about of lot of things at Tuesday's Super Bowl Media Day. But, deer-antler spray probably wasn't one of them. Lewis was asked about a Sports Illustrated report that claimed a company supplied him with deer-antler velvet extract, which contains IGF-1, a performance-enhancing substance banned by the NFL. Mitch Ross, owner of Sports with Alternative to Steroids (SWATS), told SI that Lewis wanted the product to help speed his recovery from a torn right triceps he suffered in October.

A former Philadelphia police officer, who pleaded guilty to distributing anabolic steroids, was sentenced today to six months in prison. Joseph McIntyre, 38, bought the drugs from a fellow police officer, Keith Gidelson, for his personal use and to distribute to others, prosecutors said. An indictment charged Gidelson with operating a nationwide steroid supply operation. Gidelson was convicted on possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids and conspiracy counts and on Jan. 9 received four years in prison.

If there were a hall of fame for Supreme Court justices, Hugo Black would likely be selected the first time his name came up for a vote. That's even though this great liberal jurist of the 20th century once joined the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama to give himself a political advantage. Black resigned when he ran for U.S. Senate in 1926 because the affiliation was no longer useful. There's no direct correlation, but, in a sense, Black used the Klan the same way some Major League baseball players used steroids - and before that amphetamines - to give themselves a competitive advantage.

This summer the Baseball Hall of Fame will induct three members, all of whom have been dead since 1939. It will be hailed as a national travesty, the product of a divided voter base's inability to recognize steroids' place in the game. There will be demands for reformation of the election process and cries for sanity. The passion is remarkable, if misplaced. Ultimately, baseball will continue to be played no matter whose plaque hangs in an Upstate New York museum. That, after all, is the point here.

Keith Gidelson said he was a good detective and could have been a great one. But an on-the-job car crash in 2006 effectively ended his Philadelphia police career and led him to a dark side. Desperate to make money, Gidelson began selling steroids. He was sorry, Gidelson told a judge Monday. Sorry for his devastated family, for the agents and prosecutor who investigated him, even for the judge left to sentence him for what his lawyer called an "aberration" on a blemish-free record.