Athletes' dirty little secret - Viagra

Drug testers around the world have noticed a curious coincidence. Whenever there is a drug bust for illegal steroids or growth hormone involving athletes, another drug that is legal, and very popular, is nearly always at hand. It is Vitamin V. Viagra.

Now we all know the anecdotal prowess of athletes, how they are randy as, um, footballers at a Kings Cross nightclub at 3am, how the use of free condoms goes through the roof at an Olympic Games village. And we could go down that well-worn path of debating whether sex before competition aids, abets or hinders athletic performance the next day. But we won't.

For athletes have been taking Viagra to, well, perform, but not in the bedroom. Heaven forbid, they have been popping the little blue pills to perform on the field.

Two incidents recently illustrate this trend. In the US, the famous New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, the subject of a Federal Court investigation into whether he perjured himself when denying drug taking, was reported to have kept a supply of Viagra in his locker at the baseball stadium. Over in Italy, the Gerolsteiner team cyclist Andrea Moletta was stood down from the Giro D'Italia when police found more than 80 Viagra pills hidden in a toothpaste tube.

Disgraced Balco drug lab founder Victor Conte revealed that all of his athletes took Viagra, though we're not sure if that included Marion Jones.

A key factor in Viagra is its ability to increase blood flow. Its active ingredient, sildenafil citrate, cause the blood vessels to relax, which improves blood flow from the heart and increases oxygen to the muscles. Studies conducted two years ago on a group of elite cyclists showed that Viagra taken at altitude produced a marked improvement - up to 15 per cent faster time trials - by 45 per cent of those who took the drug. But at sea level the drug shows no benefit. Still, athletes desperate to find the smallest advantage, don't take notice of the fine print.

Drug testers also believe some athletes may be taking Viagra to help increase the effectiveness of other drugs. Or is it that Viagra is being used to offset the debilitating side effect of impotence, brought about by injecting steroids?

In any case, taking Viagra is not illegal. But neither was popping ephedrine in cold tablets, swigging caffeine or inhaling asthma medication until the athletes cottoned on to the performance benefits. So the Beijing Olympics may well be the last Games where swags of athletes claim to have erectile dysfunction. World Anti-Doping Agency officials are monitoring the prevalence of Viagra in drug sample analyses.

Enjoy it while you can, boys.