Doping and sports - 1971

1971

The popular weekly magazine 'Paris Match' published an article entitled 'Le doping va-t-il tuer le Sport' ('Will doping kill the Sport). The publication was an analysis with support from the medical world. The person who took dope was considered a drug addict, an alcoholic who could not resist any microbial attack, according to Professor Marie-Christophe Boissier (1955-) of the Paris Faculty of Medicine. The Professor also referred to the vicious circle in which a person who took dope ended up. The use of amphetamines implied a delay in sleep, which required the use of hypnotics, but its effects on alertness and tonicity required a new use of amphetamines. This in turn led to pain in the lower limbs and to combat that discomfort morphine was used, but in the end the person shortened his life by a few years.

Cycling

Yves Hézard (1948-) became French cycling champion, but had to hand in the title after a positive doping test. It was already the third Frenchman who could not be crowned, as same happened the year before with Paul Gutty (1942-2006) and in 1967 with Désiré Letort (1943-2012).

Weightlifting

After his victory at the 1971 Pan Am Games in Colombian Cali, American weightlifter Ken Patera (1943-) looked forward to his meeting with the Russian super heavyweight Vasily Alexeyev (1942-2011) at the Olympics the following year.

Patera in the 'Los Angeles Times':

"Last year, our only difference was that I could not pay his drugs bill. Now I can. In Munich I will lift about 340 kilos, maybe 350. Then we know which steroids are the best, his or mine."

Patera finished in Munich in third place with 212.5 kilos, Alexeyev won the gold medal with 235 kilos