Can you become an Olympic athlete using corticosteroids?
Both in the abled Olympics we’ve just celebrated in Beijing and the Para-Olympics to come, the basic rules are laid down by the organizing committees and enforced through the World Anti-Doping Agency which works hard not to allow any kind of doping to be used.
Probably the most common is the use of inhaled corticosteroids and beta-2 agonists to allow asthma sufferers to compete. Other than that, topical corticosteroids are used for treating skin conditions. For this and the relief of joint pain and other inflammations, Prednisone is the most common medication, but athletes must get a full Therapeutic Use Exemption before using it. There are myths that using steroids enhances performance. Most health experts agree that these drug simply allow the body to resume functioning normally. So why does WADA control their use? Probably because corticosteroids will mask the prohibited performance enhancers. So you can reach for Prednisone knowing it’s approved as the standard treatment by elite athletes. To get to the Olympics yourself, all you have to do is to become one of those elite athletes. No problem!