ABSTRACT
At different times, British athletes who have tested positive include Linford Christie, Mark Richardson and Dougie Walker, also the US world shot-put champion C. J. Hunter, the Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey and the German middle-distance runner Dieter Baumann. In the 1970s and 1980s, nandrolone and its derivatives were extensively administered by East German coaches and doctors to teen and pre-teen female swimmers. Nandrolone is very similar in structure to the male hormone testosterone, differing by one methyl group, and has many of the same effects in terms of increasing muscle mass, without some of the more unwanted side effects such as increased body hair or aggressive behavior. Track-and-field athlete Daniel Plaza said that he had prolonged sex with his pregnant wife, as pregnant women may produce nandrolone. The German middle-distance runner Dieter Baumann gave test results that varied with the time of day; he claimed that the nandrolone was in his toothpaste.
