05-Jul-2008
Story Timeline: 94 days
By Sebastian Fest MADRID: Viagra, the drug to treat erectile dysfunction that has changed the lives of millions of people, is getting out of bed to enter a new world – sport and doping. “All my athletes took it,†Victor Conte said recently. “It is bigger than creatine.†Conte was the owner of the Balco laboratory in San Francisco, the focus of the largest doping scandal in recent years, which put an end to the career of former athletics stars such as Marion Jones. Experts think Viagra takes more oxygen and nutrients to muscles and can be a non-negligible aide in explosive disciplines like sprinting. “Each time there is a seizure of banned drugs you can be sure that there’s Viagra and Cialis found as well,†said Christiane Ayotte, head of a laboratory in Montreal, the city where the World Anti-Doping Agency...
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