BOYS & THEIR ROIDS
‘TO BUILD THE BULK COACHES NOW DESIRE REQUIRES MORE THAN WRESTLING WITH TRACTOR TYRES ON THE FARM’
ONE evening in September 2012, Salmon van Huyssteen’s mother injected him with a substance called Deca 300. The next morning, she injected another single millilitre into her son, then aged 16.
Wrapped in opaque adhesive tape, the container that held the drug had been collected from the local butchery, where lamb chops and boerewors were also on offer.
Salmon’s parents had sourced the supply from their son’s cousin, a bodybuilder, who had, in turn, obtained the product from a pharmacist with the predictable assurances that it was safe.
There was no internet connection at home so a routine online check of the product wasn’t done. But after the second injection, Salmon’s father began to have doubts.
The family drove to town and hopped onto the internet. It was then that they discovered the horrible, worrying truth: their son probably had nandrolone, a steroid, coursing through his system. The cousin assured the family that the substance would be undetectable within six months.
Undaunted, the (Pretoria) Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool rugby star continued to play through the season and then into 2013, when he was selected to represent the Blue Bulls at Craven Week. Alongside the big number 8 was the even bigger RG Snyman, who would go on to feature in the World Cup final in Japan six years later.
That July, aged 17, Salmon underwent a doping test at Craven Week in Middelburg, Mpumalanga. Oddly enough, the Deca 300 was
