Doping and sports - 3000BC-501BC

3,000 BC

The Chinese ate Ginseng to resist fatigue

1,500 BC

The Inca's drank mate-tea and coffee and chewed coca leaves to increase their running ability. According to legend they would run 1,750 kilometers between their capital Cuzco and Quito in Ecuador in five days, which meant an average of 15km an hour and that was possible thanks to the coca leafs.

776 BC

Historically the first doping use in the sport was noted  in 776 BC.. At the Olympic Games that year, athletes enhanced their performances with herbs and mushrooms. The entrance to the Olympic stadium at that time was bordered with stone bases with bronze statues of Zeus. On those bases the names of athletes who violated the Olympic rules were carved, together with the name of all their family members and a summary of the offenses they committed, such as bribery of opponents. The caught athlete was suspended to further participation in Olympic Games for life.

668 BC.

Charmis of Laconia, the Spartan victor of the 183m stadium race on the 28th Olympic, used a special diet of dried figs. Other athletes limited themselves to fresh cheese and wheat meals

But the use of stimulants dates back to that time. The Greek athletes drank different brewings of cognac and wine and to increase their performance they ate hallucinogenic mushrooms and sesame seeds.

The attending physicians were helped preparing athletes and cooks baked bread with analgesic properties.

540 BC

The Indian surgeon Sushruta Samita prescribed eating testicles as a cure for impotence.
The ancient Egyptians also attributed medical powers to testicles. For them, eating a heart was the same as raising courage and eating brain would improve intelligence.