The documentary focused on the state-sponsored East German doping program and the secret administration of anabolic steroids to female children without their knowledge or consent (or parental consent). The goal of the film was not to necessarily demonize steroids but to condemn a state-sponsored doping system that superceded individual choice to pursue victory at all costs even the victimization of children.
Clearly, there is a big difference between healthy adult men who “choose” to use anabolic steroids and little girls who are “forced” to use unknown substances by government bureaucratics without regard for their health. The documentary interviews four athletes (Ute Krause, Rica Reinisch, Katharina Bullin, and Heidi Krieger aka Andres Krieger) that were involuntarily subjected to steroid use as young girls and chronicles how it affected their lives.
Under the auspices of East Germany’s elite sports federation, headed by Manfred Ewald and monitored by the Ministry of State Security (known as Stasi), the government used doping as part of a deceptive master plan to secure international prestige through success in sports. Girls as young as 12 were recruited from across the country, and without their knowledge, were regularly administered untested steroids and male hormones as part of their training. Ultimately, Olympic gold came at a disturbing price for many of the German athletes, specificially side effects ranging from male-type hair growth and deepened voices to liver and heart disease, depression, infertility, miscarriages, and even death.
The film lists various documented side effects of anabolic steroids (such as Jenapharm’s Oral Turinabol and STS-646) based on Stasi records and long-term medical records of athletes affected. But it also makes some spurious connections to other side effects such as self-mutilation, breast cancer, and changes in sexual identity.
Many critics seek to connect the East German steroid scandal with contemporary doping scandals. Since the scandals all involve steroids, the suggestion is that steroid use in sports could possibly lead to a repeat of East German tragedies if we are not careful. According to a Plain Dealer television critic:
What emerges from this “Secrets of the Dead” installment is a cautionary tale for individuals and sports organizations wrestling with the curse of drugs.
Watching how athletes’ health, sexuality and lives were so willingly traded for Olympic medals, you can’t help but wonder what pressures are at work in the U.S. where so many athletes choose to ingest potentially career-ending and physically damaging drugs.
However, the lack of consent and forcible/abusive nature of steroid use by East Germany clearly differentiates the Stasi doping program from subsequent steroid scandals.
Patrick Arnold of Ergopharm tells me that he is angered by the conviction of cyclist Tammy Thomas today. She was convicted of three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. In his email, Pat tells MESO-Rx:
I feel saddened and disgusted by Tammy’s conviction. Its been almost FIVE YEARS since Balco. Why are we still going after athletes? How can a wound ever heal if we keep sticking our fingers in it? They say its for the kids. Well how does keeping steroids in the news over and over again do anything except arouse their curiousity? This is not about the kids. Its about the careers and egos of federal politicians, prosecutors, and law enforcement agents.
“I already had one career taken away from me,” she yelled. “Look me in the eye. You can’t do it.”
Thomas then turned to a prosecutor and shouted, “Look me in the eye …. You like to destroy people’s lives.”
Tammy made considerable sacrifices to be one of the top sprint cyclist in the world. She received a lifetime ban several years ago as a result of doping. Now the government has shamed her in court and destroyed a second career as an attorney that she pursued diligently at the University of Oklahoma law school.
Tammy Thomas never harmed anyone by riding a bicycle; she never should have been subpoenaed before a grand jury. But the government is intent on making an example of athletes who use steroids, especially female athletes whose anabolic steroid use is further demonized in our society.
The sums of money Arnold was making were “very low,” she said. “I think we should have charged more.”
Pat confirmed via email that he only made $15-20 thousand over the course of the THREE YEARS he provided tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) and norbolethone to elite athletes while working with Victor Conte. The government calls a $5,000 a year operation a major steroid bust?!
While the BALCO steroid bust involving undetectable performance enhancing drugs was a big deal to Pat Arnold et al and the athletes involved, the dismantling of BALCO had practically no direct impact on the commercial trade of anabolic steroids on the black market. However, the role of the BALCO scandal as the impetus for the current steroid hysteria can not be underestimated.
THG was also known as “the clear” because it was not detectable at the time Arnold developed it in about 2001.
Under questioning by prosecutor Jeff Nedrow, Arnold said, “That’s the primary reason why THG was developed.”
Arnold also said, “I believe that Miss Thomas understood full well it was undetectable and that that was its purpose.”
He said he believed the cyclist understood the drug had “steroid-like qualities.”
Tammy Thomas denied ever receiving any products from Pat Arnold other than Ergopharm 1-AD; she denied receiving anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs from Pat Arnold or anyone else; she denied using anabolic steroids.
Tammy Thomas is being prosecuted for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements - including denials that she used anabolic steroids. IMO, this is an offshoot of the steroid hysteria and federal war on steroids where prosecutors want to make an example of athletes who they suspect have used steroids.
The Anabolic Steroid Control Act (which made anabolic steroids a controlled substance) has proved virtually useless in prosecuting athletes who use anabolic steroids. Instead, federal prosecutors have perverted the perjury laws to target athletes who dope. Tammy Thomas’ case is the first test of the effectiveness of the government’s strategy of using perjury laws to target athletes and a preview of the Barry Bonds perjury case.
Ironically, THG was not legally classified as an anabolic steroid at the time that Patrick Arnold claims to have sold it to Tammy Thomas. This fact will apparently was highlighted in the defense’s opening statement. The defense strategy appears to maintain that “technically” Thomas told the truth because (1) THG was not legally an anabolic steroid at the time; (2) she did not think THG was banned at the time; (3) she obtained THG from Kelsey Dalton (Arnold’s former girlfriend) and not Pat. We’ll see how the case plays out.
Is it conceivable that every Major League Baseball player could use performance-enhancing dosages of testosterone and never test positive for a banned substance? Sure, although unlikely, the information is out there. There are more than a few chemists who could figure out how to exploit a testosterone loophole in drug testing:
I could figure out how to take a fair amount of testosterone and you’d never catch me, and if I can say that, a lot of others can too.
Who said that? Patrick Arnold? Bruce Kneller? Maybe another creator of designer supplements? Actually, it was Don Catlin, the former director of UCLA’s Olympic Analytical Testing Lab and founder of the Anti-Doping Research Institute.
This statement reflects Catlin’s firsthand knowledge of loopholes for testosterone detection in existing drug testing protocols. If the sport relies exclusively on the testosterone:epitestosterone ratio (T:E ratio) test with an allowable ratio of 4:1 or 6:1, then this allows athletes to use performance-enhancing amounts of testosterone without exceeding that ratio.
Recently introduced carbon isotope ratio (CIR) test seeks to determine whether the testosterone metabolites are synthetic(plant-based) or natural (endogenous). This may not be foolproof; but has been used to corroborate elevate T:E ratios (e.g. Floyd Landis case).
However, depending on the sport, the CIR test may never be used unless an athlete fails the T:E ratio test. Furthermore, some sports don’t even use the CIR test (e.g. Major League Baseball)
In these cases, an athlete can exploit the testosterone loophole in testing.
The “cream” used by BALCO was not a novel undetectable designer steroid or sophisticated method of administering steroids. It was simply a variation of the testosterone and epitestosterone cocktail that had first been used over 20 years ago to fool drug testers.
BALCO athletes simply used a transdermal delivery system to administer the testosterone and epitestosterone mixture. Transdermal testosterone has a slower release and results in lower peak blood concentrations. This makes is easier for athletes to use the prohibited anabolic steroid testosterone and remain within the 4:1 to 6:1 acceptable T:E ratio as well as avoiding excessive absolute levels of metabolites.
Even after the entire BALCO scandal, the “testosterone loophole” has not been closed. The “cream” is just as effective as ever for a professional baseball player. And no solutions to this loophole contained within the Mitchell Report.
HBO Films is planning to make a movie about Barry Bonds and all the characters involved in the BALCO steroid scandal. They recently purchased the rights to the book “Game of Shadows” written by the investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Hollywood is already promoting this as a “Barry Bonds” movie. I think everyone will be overloaded with stories about Bonds, if not already, by the time the movie is released on HBO. How many people will really want to see a movie about Barry Bonds?
Game of Shadows is well-written and interesting book that is about much more than Barry Bonds. I hope that director Ron Shelton is able to breathe life into movie adaption with an engaging depiction of the BALCO steroid scandal. I am hopeful as he has had some notable success with sports films:
Shelton’s sports-film directing credits include “Bull Durham,” the Ty Cobb feature “Cobb,” “Tin Cup” and “White Men Can’t Jump.”
Most are curious who will play the role of “Barry Bonds.” But I want to see who will star as “Patrick Arnold” and “Victor Conte.” It will be a lot of fun to see actors portraying people that I have known during my time in the “bodybuilding industry!” Of course, these guys were not really major steroid distributors; they just happened to be associated with some prominent athletes thereby making it a huge scandal. Their short-term prison stints more than likely served to guarantee their future success in the bodybuilding/supplement industry.
I feel the steroid hysteria of the past several years has done more harm than good by transforming a woefully ignorant public into a largely misinformed public when it comes to the topic of anabolic steroids. But at least, all the attention given to steroids in the media has made it possible for A-list writers and producers to document the history of steroids in society and sport (e.g. Game of Shadows and Steroid Nation).
