There are downsides to the pro athletic lifestyle, full stop. Why do you think there are so many teenagers in Olympic gymnastics? This is what I mean when I say hypocrisy; no-one has any problem with a 14-year-old winning their country a medal, who even remembers them when they're 24? The puritanical attitude towards steroids is inconsistent.
Sure, that may be bad, but steroids have much, much more downside relative to the other examples you have given.
Hard training at a young age can lead to amenorrhea and slowed hormonal development, but anabolic steroids cause irreprable damage to your liver and kidneys. And will ruin your joints.
There is no inconsistency here. It's not binary, it's on a gradient.
There isn't any medical evidence for that. Overuse of anything is bad for you. There is no medical reason that, if used under proper supervision, steroids should result in any long-term physical damage. In fact, as is the case with cortisone, steroids can improve an athletes chances of recovering from an otherwise career-ending injury. These aren't drugs remember, just more of what your body produces naturally. If you want to ban people from adjusting their hormonal systems in support of their lifestyle choices, you'd have to ban the Pill too.
