Stage lights come on, music blares from the speakers at a deafening volume, 70,000 fans at the Arnold Classic screaming their favorite athlete’s name. A 285 pound professional bodybuilder with two percent body fat lumbers out on stage and begins his posing routine that he spent hours perfecting. This is the culmination of all his grueling mornings in the gym, the miles and sweat on the treadmill, bloodshed from deadlifting, and all the drugs that he injected into his body since last year.
Professional bodybuilders spend thousands of dollars on anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) that they use to prepare for each contest. For most contests only the top five athletes will win prize money while the show promoters get rich. The unsuccessful athletes are forced to use heavier dosages to remain competitive with the winners. With 70,000 fans in attendance, average ticket cost of $163.33, and pay-per-view cost of $25, there is no reason any number of athletes should go home empty handed (www.columbuscvb.org). The athletes depend on prize money as their primary source of income and not getting paid will lead to desperation, and ultimately, drug abuse. The International Federation of Body Building (IFBB) needs enforcement of their doping policy to enable drug free contests. Joe Weider, founder of the IFBB, needs to stop pretending his athletes are not using steroids and use a lifetime ban on repeat offenders on par with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). I will argue that total reform is needed in the IFBB to protect the health and financial well-being of the athletes.
Although not as prominent as other athletes, bodybuilders in the IFBB are professional athletes. Starting at the high school level, athletes display a higher rate of risk taking behavior than their peers (Ringhofer, 16). These behaviors include DUI, excessive drinking, not wearing seatbelts or motorcycle helmets, higher incidences of unprotected sex, and promiscuity (Ringhofer, 16). The stage for reckless behavior is set when athletes with thrill seeking personalities are put in high stakes competition. It is well known that AAS enable an athlete to achieve a physique that is otherwise unattainable. Today’s bodybuilders are bigger than ever. Fifty years ago a three hundred pound bodybuilder was as unimaginable as the four minute mile. Today bodybuilders are breaking new barriers even though the training and diets have not changed dramatically. We cannot credit or blame genetics entirely on this progression. Advances in pharmacology (mainly insulin and hGH use) and desperation on the part of the athletes are the main causes.
What motivates an athlete to inject himself with three to four grams of AAS each week when he knows that the therapeutic level is approximately four hundred grams a month? The side effects are known and are extremely undesirable. Something pushes them to look past that. Hunger. Not just to win but to provide for their families. Professional bodybuilders do not live the life of the “average” professional athlete. They do not have multimillion dollar contracts with their team, signing bonuses, nor do they have twenty five million dollar sneaker contracts. They do not get paid on a weekly basis or get performance bonuses. If they do not win, or finish in the top five at a contest they do not get paid a penny.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The IFBB athletes are pushing the limits with the amounts of drugs they take at an alarming rate. Something has to give and the athletes’ health is the first thing. Momo Benaziza, Andreas Munzer, Don Ross, Jeep Swenson, Mike Mentzer, and his brother Ray Mentzer have all died from AAS abuse or related complications (MuscleMag, Nov 2001). The athletes are from many different nationalities, have different training methods, diets, and lifestyles. They do have one thing in common and that is that they were all top level bodybuilders. Momo Benaziza died from overdosing on diuretics, which allow a person to excrete water from the body in excessive amounts. This increases their muscular definition which is a desirable trait on stage. Andreas Munzer died from complications as a result of his EPO doping. While outside factors such as recreational drugs and hereditary predisposition to disease are a detriment to an athlete’s health, AAS abuse contributes to their problem.
While on a cycle of AAS, athletes have lowered HDL, elevated LDL and cholesterol levels (Wright, 62). The organs affected by AAS abuse are the liver (primary), kidneys, testes, spleen, lymph nodes, prostate gland, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems and organs (Wright, 58). The amount of damage done the organs is proportionate to the amount of circulating testosterone in the blood (Wright, 37). IFBB athletes causing serious harm to themselves is not a theory, it is a scientific fact.
The Ironman Pro and San Francisco Pro have two things in common. They are both promoted by a Weider employee who is not an athlete (Wayne DeMilia). They also have $20,000 in prize money for the winners. The Arnold Classic is promoted by six-time Mr. Olympia winner, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Prize money total for the Arnold Classic is $260,000 plus a Hummer for the winner (npcnewsonline.com). Clearly this is an example of one athlete taking appropriate measures to ensure the competitors are justly rewarded. How can Wayne DeMilia justify $20,000 for the same event? Simply said “There’s only one happy man at the end of a contest” (t-mag.com). This is a cut and dry example of greed and total lack of ethics. Interesting enough, Wayne DeMila is also one of the judges at that show. This gives him the ability to strongly influence the athletes’ placing (and earnings).
The IFBB says that they cannot generate enough revenue from ticket sales to pay all the athletes a flat rate or give them guaranteed contracts. Bodybuilding is a subculture in today’s society. An IFBB sanctioned event only draws a fraction of the crowd that other professional sports do. The days the “hardcore” gyms being popular are over. In order to make enough money and stay competitive, gyms are forced to market themselves and clientele more towards the fitness market. A men’s bodybuilding contest is rarely seen on ESPN but the women’s fitness pageants can be seen regularly on Saturday mornings. What the IFBB does is provide the bodybuilders an opportunity to compete and if they are successful, a living. The athletes’ financial success is directly correlated with his bodybuilding success. By only paying the top performers, the IFBB forces the athletes to come prepared and in their best condition. This prevents them from getting lazy and having a poor quality show. This opportunity is more than they would have if the IFBB did not exist.
An easy way to protect the athletes would be to have every contest drug tested to IOC standards. This is the most reliable drug testing available today and is standardized so that none of the athletes can compare their results from one lab to the next. Doing this would accomplish two important things; elimination of the current dangerous drug abuse patterns and to keep athletes on a level playing field. By eliminating the advantage that the AAS give the athletes, they will be forced to depend on their genetics, training, diet, and dedication to win contests, not a “magic cocktail.” This is what the spirit of competition is all about.
The IFBB does have its own code of ethics.
“The Code of Ethics exists as a set of beliefs that have been written to serve as guidelines for the way in which all Members, be the competitors, officials, administrators, or others, should strive to conduct themselves as Members of the IFBB family. National Federations and other Members join the IFBB of their own free will and, in doing so, agree to abide by the Constitution and Rules of which the Code of Ethics forms and integral part. Any National Federation or other Member who is found to have contravened the Code of Ethics may be subject to disciplinary or other measures.”
The competitors, officials, and administrators each have specific responsibilities outlined in the Code of Ethics. Among those for the athletes are: “to honor and dignify the sport of bodybuilding, respect our opponents on equal terms in the spirit of good sportsmanship, respect the Rules, and to strive for correct moral principles (www.getbig.com).” This sounds good in theory but when the athletes are desperate to win and they know that they will not be drug tested, they use AAS. It is viewed as a necessity of bodybuilding competition.
Failure to execute a consistent testing system is the job of the administrators. Their guidelines in the Code of Ethics include: “to safeguard the health and physical fitness of the bodybuilders, to serve all members according to their needs, and to provide the bodybuilders the best possible conditions for achieving bodily perfection (www.getbig.com).” These guidelines set forth are clearly not being followed at all. The athletes continue to use AAS because they know they will not be tested. For example, last year none of the IFBB athletes have been eliminated from competition for AAS use. Clearly they were all using AAS and diuretics up to and including the day of the contest. If they were being tested as per the Code of Ethics and IOC standards then at least one competitor would have been caught.
In defense, the IFBB has states that “competitors are drug tested in accordance with IOC guidelines. Drug testing is conducted at accredited IOC laboratories whenever possible. Athletes who test positive are suspended (www.getbig.com).” They also state the IFBB legislation adopts measures aimed at preventing unfair and unlawful practices on the part of the athletes. Ringhofer backs the IFBB when he stated that “testing for substances…is done to ensure that competitive events are won or lost because of the physical and mental skills of the athletes rather than by an advantage gained from drug use.”
If the IFBB tested their athletes at every show then the athletes would be forced to stop using AAS. If a competitor was caught and the Code of Ethics was followed then that athlete would be suspended from competition. By doing so, the athletes would no long be the 300 pound monstrosities that they are now. This would broaden the marketability of the IFBB shows and generate more income from ticket sales and pay-per-view broadcasts. Peter Lawson of the UK Central Council for Physical Recreation stated that “…sport will be a competition between circus freaks manipulated by international chemists” if sport continues to progress the way it is now (Donohoe, 125). This “circus act” is what limits the profits made from the sport of bodybuilding. This could be fixed by elimination of AAS abuse in the IFBB.
The IFBB has not changed its drug testing policy since its adoption. With show promoters doubling as judges, there is possibility for bribery or favoritism which impacts the well-being of the athletes who are depending on unbiased officiating. If the current administrators are replaced and the judges are held responsible for their score cards (currently the judges vote anonymously) favoritism would be kept to a minimum and the opportunity for reform would be present. This would allow someone new to step in and enforce the Code of Ethics and eventually rid the sport of bodybuilding of AAS abuse.
If something is not done to the administration of the IFBB the situation could escalate even further. Female athletes have been known to get pregnant just to benefit from the hormonal changes that occur then abort the fetus before it hampers their training (Wright, 143). This is of course the extreme and hardly makes AAS use look as unreasonable as varied training methods or diets. Athletes are forbidden to take AAS in any amounts yet allowed to abuse alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. These are legal yet still classified as drugs (and abused to gain an edge over competitors). The level of desperation of the athletes is so intense that that Harold Connolly commented “the overwhelming majority of athletes I know would do anything, and take anything, short of killing themselves to improve athletic performance (Donohoe, 1.)”
The health risks do not stop with AAS abuse. There are also other factors that present hazard to the bodybuilders. Counterfeit drugs for example can be contaminated or contain harmful street drugs (Donohoe, 155). With athletes longing to be stronger and more powerful, it is clear that the IFBB athletes will not stop taking AAS on their own, but need to be forced into cessation by implementation of consistent drug testing. Reforming the IFBB from the ground up is the only possible way clean up the sport and protect the lives of those involved.
Works Cited
Contest Results. Men’s Bodybuilding Contest Results. March 15, 2003/. .
Dobbins, Bill. Public Pages. March 14, 2003. .
Donohoe, Tom, and Neil Johnson. Foul Play: Drug Abuse in Sports. New York: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1988.
Fitness, Johnny. “Stop This.” MuscleMag International. November 2001: pages 13, 283.
Greater Columbus Convention and Visitor Bureau. GCCVB. March 14, 2003. .
IFBB Information. March 14, 2003. .
NPC News Online. National Physique Committee. March 15, 2003. .
Richards, Victor. Interview. March 14, 2003. .
Ringhofer, Kevin, and Martha Harding. Coaches Guide to Drugs and Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1996.
Thomas, Charles. Drugs and Athletic Performance. Springfield, IL: Bannerstone House, 1974.
Wright, James, and Virginia S. Cowart. Altered States: The Use and Abuse of Anabolic Steroids. Carmel, IN: Cooper Publishing Group, 1987.
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