In sports, you will find throughout the course of history, a plethora of athletes who have used drugs to achieve something. Instead of having confidence in their abilities, they relied on drugs to step over the winning line. Tainted, these athletes are now remembered for their notoriety. There are a few of them who linger in our memories for bringing their respective sports a huge amount of disrepute. Here’s a look at five of arguably the most infamous drug abusers in the sporting history.
- Lance Armstrong
The man was at the pinnacle of his cycling career. With 7 Tour de France titles and many other laurels to his name, people (especially children) looked up to him. All of this ended when he was found to have been taking illegal, performance-enhancing drugs throughout the time he was accumulating all the praises and awards. - Ben Johnson
Having won 2 Olympic Bronze Medals during the 80s, he was surely the next big thing in the world of sprinting. He reached the apex of his career after winning the gold medal in 1988 Olympics. But who knew that all this glory would die down soon when it was found out that he had consumed an illegal substance. - Marion Jones
The sprinter from US was stripped off all her five gold medals that she won in Sydney Olympics of 2000. In fact, it was only seven years later that she admitted to having cheated. - Floyd Landis
Cycling has witnessed a high level of doping scandals in the recent times. Take the case of Floyd who was stripped off his 2006 Tour de France victory in 2010. In addition, Alberto Contador was also stripped off his 2010 Tour de France victory when he tested positive for the drug clenbuterol. - Chinese Swim Team
In the last 15 odd years, a large number of swimmers from China have tested positive for taking illegal growth hormones and other illegal drugs. They have brought a lot of shame and disrepute to the sport.
These are just a few of the many cases that have unfolded over the past few decades. There have been cases when such sportspeople got further entangled in the world of drugs. The support of drug rehab centers have helped many of them to get rid of their addiction problem.
