Pro Bodybuilders Who Have Died
Mike Matarazzo was a professional bodybuilder that was at the top of his sport for many years and he only stopped when he was rushed to hospital for a triple by-pass surgery. He died a few years later at only 48 years old, and spent a lot of his time explaining his steroid abuse and how it had affected him.
Becoming a pro bodybuilder requires drugs, powerful drugs in high dosages like steroids, insulin, thyroid, diuretics, HGH, etc. that, in the long or short run, can cause organ failure. This is not new information and goes back to the early 1980's and it was called the "Goldman's Dilemma".
It started with Dr. Robert Goldman asking all top bodybuilding athletes a proverbial "deal with the devil" that would guarantee victory in their next competition, but they'd also die within the next 5 years. Most of them said yes and hence the "Goldman's Dilemma".
When the objective is muscle mass at all costs and not health, then the bending of the rules is inevitable and the result is drug abuse in a sport that seems to be about muscle mass and not aesthetic symmetry with perfect proportions that one might expect, bodybuilding is about size.
The fans of bodybuilding know they are looking at muscles created by steroids, some do it better than others and they enjoy the competition. The professional bodybuilders that die of organ failure somtimes in their early 40's is not something unusual, which is why we mentioned the Goldman's Dilemma above.
There are many top pro bodybuilders that have died as a result of steroid abuse.
Here is a list of just some of the bodybuilders that died way too young: Alex Azarian, Andreas Munzer, Anthony D'Arezzo, Art Atwood, Charles Durr, Chris Janusz, Dan Puckett, Daniele Seccarecci, Don Ross, Don Youngblood, Ed Kawak, Ed Van Amsterdam, Fannie Barrios, Frank Hillebrand, Greg DeFerro, Greg Kovacs, Hans Hopstaken, Luke Wood, Mat Duvall, Mike Matarazzo, Mike Mentzer, Mohammed Benaziza, Nasser El Sonbaty, Ray Mentzer, Robert Benavente, Ron Teufel, Scott Klein, Stoil Stoilov, Terri Harris, Trevor Smith, Vince Comerford.
Bodybuilding thrives as a sport today because steroids to not kill you; the abuse of steroids kills you. Since 2014 there have been a number of studies done on the prevalence of kidney disease as well as cardiovascular diseases in pro bodybuilders who took steroids. All the studies have the same conclusion; that the subjects studied had an increase mortality rate because of irreparable damage to both the heart and kidneys.
It needs to be added that bodybuilding is not alone when dealing with PED (performance enhancing drugs). A study done on pro wrestlers between 1985 and 2011 showed conclusively that every wrestler they followed had a 4 times higher chance of dying from a heart attack between 30 and 50 years old than the general population.
In conclusion, bodybuilding should be about the pursuit of health and strength, in that order. The Goldman's Dilemma of taking steroids faces every competitive bodybuilder; the bodybuilders that have died made their choice.
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