Did you see the 2000 Summer Olympics? If you did then you know that Andreea Raucan got the gold metal in gymnastics for Romania. Then the International Olympic Committee found pseudoephedrine in her system. When the people found out, they took away her gold medal. Andreea said that she had a cold and that she got medicine with pseudoephedrine. A lot of people didn’t think it was fair. They think that it is rude to take away the medal because she had a cold. It might be a drug that makes you better at sports, but it did not even help her. The International Olympic Committee said they have to follow the rules, so that mint to take away the metal.

    Ben Johnson was a famous Canadian runner that set two world records for the 100-meter dash. 9.38 seconds was his first record in 1987. In 1988 he set a record of 9.79 seconds. In Seoul, Korea Ben Johnson raced American runner Carl Lewis for the 1988 Olympics. They have raced against each other 15 times from 1980-1988. Carl Lewis won 9 times and Ben Johnson won 6 times. In the 1988 Olympics, Ben Johnson won the gold medal. Two days after Ben Johnson got his metal, he got it taken away. He got it taken away because he had taken steroids. Then both of his world records were erased from the world records books.

    A steroid is an illegal drug that will make you stronger. If you are a swimmer or another athlete they will make you stronger. A weight lifter will become better and stronger. You can also practice longer and lift heaver weights.

    Athletes get there medal taken away if they use steroids. That is because it is unfair to the other athletes. Taking steroids in the Olympics is like cheating. Carl Lewis could have beaten Ben Johnson if he took steroids, too. But the dangers of using steroids outweigh the benefits. In most sports competitions, athletes are warned not to take steroids. If you are caught taking steroids your metal will be taken away.

    Many teenage boys use steroids. They use a kind of steroids called anabolic steroids. These kinds of steroids make them grow faster. Anabolic steroids make your body more muscular. Steroids are a chemical shortcut to help you grow. The problem with them is that they can make you violent and very depressed. One in every fifteen teenagers uses steroids. That adds up to 500,000 teenagers! Here are some real stories about kids that took steroids.

    Michael was 15 years old and he felt very small and weak compared to many other boys. He got picked on and teased by other kids. He soon began to work out a lot. He built up his muscles so when he was 16 years old he weighed 165 pounds and was 5 feet 9 inches tall. Still, Michael wanted to be bigger. That was when he found out about anabolic steroids and illegally bought some at a local gym. Soon, he weighed more, 195 pounds. Because Michael took steroids, he had violent mood swings. He would get angry over little things. Friends and family noticed he was depressed a lot. When he was 17 years old, he shot himself with a rifle. Soon he died. His sister said, "Steroids pulled the trigger."

    When Aaron was 17, he had been taking steroids for 5 years. He was the star of the football team, but still had terrible health problems. He had violent mood swings and was really depressed a lot. Still, he could not stop taking the steroids. One night, he swallowed a whole bottle of medicine trying to kill himself. Soon he was rushed to the hospital. Luckily, he did not die. Some medical tests showed steroids caused damage to Aaron’s liver, kidneys, and stomach. "If you do not quit steroids, you will die," a doctor warned him. Aaron listened to the doctor this time and quit taking steroids. At the age of 20, Aaron works to warn other people about the risks of taking steroids. Here are some words from Aaron’s speech at his high school: "I took steroids because I did not believe in myself. I learned the hard way that what matters is how you feel about yourself, not what others think about you. What others think fades away. But what you feel inside last as long as you live."

    Birgit Dressel was a star at track from West Germany. Her event was the heptathlon. The heptathlon is a 7-part track and field event. In the 1986 she won 4^th place at the European Athletic Championships. In 1987 she won 6^th place in the whole world. She hoped that she would win the gold metal in the Olympic of 1988. In the April of 1987 she was practicing and she felt a sharp pain in her lower back. Soon she was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. Steroids had destroyed her liver and kidneys. Later that night she died. She was 26 when she died.

    Do you know that steroids can also be good for you? Doctors give them to you for rashes and allergies. Did you know that asthma is the most common kid disease in the whole world? Five million kids in the U.S. get it. Certain steroids are a safe way to treat asthma in kids, but they do have side effects.