But like a growing number of athletes, Michel attained such elation the wrong way. He eventually realized that performance-enhancing substances had ensnared him in the trap of addiction to even worse drugs. Last year Michel, who is 25, underwent several weeks of specialized detoxification treatment for cocaine and heroin addiction developed during his racing career. Once the worst-kept secret in sport, doping has become so common that many fans now see it as inevitable.
Nobody knows how many develop dependencies that continue after their careers end.
But the numbers at risk are probably larger than fans or even athletes realize. In France, studies have indicated the scale of the problem. And that's just in France. Although full-blown addiction among active athletes remains rare, experts say use of drugs for improving performance vastly increases the threat of substance abuse and dependency when a doping athlete is sidelined by injury or forced to retire from sports. Because that taboo has been broken during their careers, athletes who have doped are often less inhibited about using drugs in normal life than clean athletes or nonathletes.