Mexico’s National Embarrassment
Just days before the Gold Cup in 2011, several members of Mexico’s team were unexpectedly banned from competition after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. While this was a huge embarrassment for the country, they did have an explanation: chicken. The players had been eating chicken that had been injected with steroids, unbeknownst to them.
Five out of the thirty-three tested team members returned positive for steroids, which they blamed on eating tainted meat. Mexico still managed to win the Gold Cup despite these difficulties, but the national humiliation lingered.