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GOHEAVY.COM Debates Forum
Re: Why did Mike MacDonald stop competing?
Posted By: Chuck Mirabile (COX-66-210-132-134-static.coxinet.net)
In Response To: Re: Why did Mike MacDonald stop competing? (Martin Drake)
Date: Thursday, May 8, 2008, @ 8:06 p.m.
Agreed....Mike is a nice guy, but made some bad decisions that I don't think he thought would affect him so negatively. Based on conversations with Mike over the years, I sense his bitterness over the steroid charges. I think he feels that it was an "accepted or tolerated" practice to use steroids in his day (in fact usage was often through the medical system and he described having blood work periodically assessed). He did not think that he was "trafficing drugs" by distributing them and believed he was just purchasing on behalf of his "buddies"...I don't recall him saying that he made a profit. He describes more of a "Hey, can you get me some too?" scenario. I don't sense that the government really cared about steroid use much back then except for the fact that buying and selling circumvented the tax system. As it became "big money" the government stepped in. I often wonder that if Mike had known then what he knows now, would he have still taken steroids? He told me that he officially benched 405# at 181# at about 17 years old and eventually 450# as a 198#er in competition before ever using steroids. Knowing what he knows now, I certainly doubt that he would have become involved in their distribution...but I get the feeling that he did them because everyone else did and so as not to be at a disadvantage. Who knows...only Mike knows for sure I imagine. Every brief time that he talked about a comeback, he wanted to do so drug free and raw...a few times he got back up over 400# as light as under 198# in training at over 50 years of age. Other times he would get on a "bodyweight for reps" kick doing 30-40 reps. He loses interest pretty quickly and then hardly lifts at all. He left a great "bench press legacy" but likely could have done even more had he not lost his drive, regardless of age and perhaps even steroids. It's a shame that he has pretty much dropped out of the sport. There are so many older lifters who still contribute so much, whether it be as lifters, coaches, judges, promoters, or simply historians.
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