CAMELOT FANTASIES

The United States Anti-Doping Agency catches dozens of athletes each year using performance-enhancing drugs to gain a leg up on the competition — but few have a story like Don Ramos.


At 80 years old, Ramos is both a world record-holding weightlifter and the oldest steroid user USADA has ever caught. And you shouldn’t expect him to apologize for the latter.

“Do I consider myself a cheater?” Ramos said in an interview published Sunday in the New York Times. “I never thought of myself that way. I feel like I’m just keeping myself healthy.”

Ramos’ positive test was administered earlier this year, at a competition in Chicago. A former dance instructor and model, Ramos had just set an 80-and-over record in the clean and jerk, lifting 161 pounds.

After the lift, he was escorted to the drug testing area, where he handed over a urine sample, just as he had many times before. A month later, he received the news: He had failed his drug test for having too much testosterone in his system. The penalty for the transgression? A two-year ban from