More school athletes are spiking up

The number of school pupils testing positive for steroids has spiked, but authorities believe these reported cases are just "the tip of the iceberg".

New figures from the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport show that five pupils were among the 38 athletes who failed drug tests between April 2016 and March this year. Only one pupil tested positive in the previous financial year.

And in the past six months, a further eight pupils have failed drug tests.

Pupils are only tested at national events and even then, only a sample group are tested.

But Johannesburg-based sports physician Dr Jon Patricios said he had seen between 30 and 40 pupils between January and April who had taken steroids.

"Because a lot of these kids are  not really tested for these things they get away with it," he said, adding that these drugs were available on the internet as well as from gym instructors and through supplement shops.

In one the latest incidents, a pupil at King Edward VII High School in Johannesburg was caught injecting himself with steroids earlier this month. Another pupil at the school admitted to using steroids in a tablet form.

Meanwhile, the owner of an online fitness company this week broke down when confronted about allegations that he sold prescription drugs aimed at weight loss and performance enhancement on the internet.

The Medicines Control Council said this week it had asked police to investigate Johannesburg sport supplement supplier Alan Wakelin.

In e-mails to customers, which the Sunday Times has seen, Wakelin says he can obtain any pharmaceutical product, irrespective of the schedule, including Concerta and Ritalin. Both are Schedule 6 drugs and contain the stimulant methylphenidate, which is prohibited in competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

• See the full story in the Sunday Times