This could be a dumb question considering I don’t know much about soccer, or cocaine for that matter - so it stands to reason that I know absolutely nothing about playing soccer while high on cocaine; but some of his feats seem almost superhuman.
What exactly do you think cocaine use does?
Don’t really know myself; I’ve never done it. Mostly people have told me its like drinking 20 cups of coffee, gives you lots of energy, makes you more social, sometimes more angry. More specifically my question is in response to the comments people post on youtube commenting on Maradona highlights; you will always see lots of people mentioning he was coked up at the time etc. Just wondering what effect that would realistically have.
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What makes you think he didn’t?
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Cocaine is not a performance enhancing drug.
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Neither drug has ever done much for me, but I can’t imagine 20 cups of coffee gives most people a positive effect! Neither would be good for shooting or archery, that’s for sure.
Cocaine doesn’t actually make you faster or stronger or more agile. It just makes you think you’re faster and stronger and more agile. Try to base athletic performance on these cocaine-induced beliefs and the competition will quickly demonstrate the difference between perception and reality.
But on the plus side, you won’t care because it will still feel AWESOME :p.
It might not be a traditional “performance-enhancing drug” because it won’t help you run faster or jump higher,* but it does enhance mental performance.
I obviously haven’t done a study, and I’m somewhat sorry to say I haven’t tested it myself, but it seems entirely plausible to my non-pharmacist self that it could improve alertness and attention. Those things are very important to a striker like Maradona.
*unlike, say, the latest energy drink.
As a bit of a hijack, I recall stories of an MLB pitcher who threw a no-hitter while on acid. This would have been about 25 to 35 years ago, I believe. The story was that he saw the catcher’s mitt as this HUGE target that he couldn’t miss.
Does anyone recall this story, and who it may have been?
Well it’s possible that cocaine did help Maradona have a hand in the odd World Cup goal.
No, that was the hand of og.
Says that tests haven’t shown cocaine to improve performance.
Interesting link, but very far from conclusive:
“The few studies of cocaine and exercise suggest that little to no performance gains are incurred from cocaine use.”
Small sample size and use of word suggest means very very weak data - unless my understanding of scientific verbiage is wrong.
Hijack away - personally I think a thread about athletes performing while high would be pretty interesting. Supposedly Maradona was coked up here; he certainly seems to be enjoying himself. around 1:38 is pretty amusing:
