Since the beginning of sporting events, athletes have looked for ways to gain a competitive advantage over other athletes. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite and that includes taking performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes competing at all levels fill themselves with these drugs to become faster and stronger. They ignore the short-term side effects and long-term health risks of steroid use. Performance-enhancing drugs have become a controversial topic in today's sports arena. Some people believe they should be allowed in sports, while others argue that drugs undermine the competitive nature of athletics and have no place in sports. As tempting and harmless as performance-enhancing drugs may seem, it is important to know how these drugs work and the negative effect they have on your overall health. Drugs have been used for centuries to enhance athletic performance. Ancient Greek Olympians used a strong stimulant, strychnine, and hallucinogenic mushrooms to "get pumped up" before the games. In 1886, a French cyclist was the first athlete to die from a performance-enhancing drug. He took a mixture of cocaine and heroin called speedball. Another accident occurred during the 1904 Olympics when Tom Hicks of the United States collapsed after winning the marathon. It was later discovered that Hicks had been drinking a mixture of strychnine and brandy to enhance his performance. The first use of anabolic steroids in sports was by the Soviet weightlifting team in the early 1950s. Russian athletes took such high doses that women began to resemble men. Shortly thereafter, American strength athletes began using these drugs on a large scale. In a matter of years, steroid use will be…the focus of the paper…no testing for these masking drugs (Silverstein 68). These techniques and drugs to hide steroid use are very effective, but this Steroid use behind closed doors poses an ethical dilemma: is it right? Most athletes choose to train and compete only with hard work and determination, and that's how sports should be. Some athletes, however, choose to put their lives in danger to gain an unfair and unnatural advantage. Users do not see their use as morally wrong because steroids are available to virtually everyone, so other athletes can use them too. But should other athletes feel the need to use steroids to keep up with ignorant users? No. All the health risks aside, steroids simply have no place in sports. Sporting success is a result to be earned. It is not a commodity to be bought and sold on the market (Catlin).