Strolling into Steroids: Pedestrianism and the History of Performance Enhancement in Sports

If you can believe it, watching people walk around was once a spectator sport. It was the Gilded Age and there weren't many options for sport entertainment. We'll investigate how the participants in this early sport-ish activity helped inform the more modern practices of performance enhancing substance use as we know them today. We'll touch on cycling and the physiology and medicine behind some of these ways to enhance one's sporting prowess.

Sources:

1. Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk was America’s Favorite Sport, Matthew Algeo, https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/pedestrianism-products-9781613743973.php
2. The Conversation article on Doping in Victorian Times, ​​https://theconversation.com/in-victorian-britain-the-crowds-approved-of-sports-doping-with-cocaine-82225
3. Frank Hart Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hart_(athlete)
4. Ada Anderson Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Anderson
5. Wikipedia article on Sports Doping, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_sport#History
6. Guardian article on strychnine, https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2016/jul/21/the-cocktail-of-poison-and-brandy-that-led-to-olympic-gold-strychnine