Top 10 Performance-enhancing Drugs That Aren't Steroids
Erythropoietin (EPO: This model shows the hormone EPO, which athletes use to amp up red blood cell production and deliver oxygen to their muscles.
Human Growth Hormone (hGH: Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare won her 100-meter heat race during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games July 30, 2021. But she was later.
Bromantane: Russian runner Marina Trandenkova (3717) qualified for the finals in the 100-meter race at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Ephedrine: Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler, who died Feb. 17, 2003, of complications from heatstroke.
Diuretics: The water pill chlorthalidone is a diuretic that, if taken, makes athletes go to the bathroom more, hence they can lose weight.
Albuterol: Famed British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe (pictured here during the 2008 Olympics) has exercise-induced asthma.
Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB: You might know of GHB as the date-rape drug, but it's been a drug of choice among body builders since the '80s.
Beta Blockers: North Korea's Kim Jong-Su (right) won silver in the 2008 Olympics 50m and bronze in the 10m pistol shooting, but was later.
Tamoxifen: Boston Red Sox player Marlon Byrd received a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball in 2012 for taking the banned substance tamoxifen.
Creatine: Weightlifters, like Great Britain's Emily Campbell, may opt to pop the over-the-counter supplement creatine.