So with the lesson on androstenedione the series of Locker Rooms for the enjoyment only of pharmacists draws to a close.

Imagine the reverberations silently bouncing around the big room in Lausanne when the word androstenedione first began to be mentioned last Monday. The area reserved for press and visitors was only half full and suddenly the composition of the congregation seemed important to note. It was like getting confirmation that the immaculate conception was all a hoax and not being able to locate a Catholic for comment on the news.

None of those journalists who over the last three years have had access to megaphones but not telephones were present. That loud and churlish contingent who were able to reassure the nation time and time again that Our Lady of the Chlorine was everything they had cracked her up to be were absent just as they had been for the FINA hearing last summer. No emissaries of Gerry Ryan, Gay Byrne or Marion Finucane or any of the other RTE shows which happily shredded the reputations of other journalists over the last couple of years were in town. For Michelle de Bruin it must have seemed like a lonely place. No Erik. No cheerleaders. No cupla focail.

There was something cruel and compelling in seeing the last layer of the story stripped away. Michelle de Bruin was silent and grey faced. Peter Lennon was blowing like a hurricane still but his body language was sending fatalistic messages. This wasn't the type of forum for this particular double act however. The questions from the judging panel cut through the issues like scalpels. We just sat and took notes and waited for it all to be over. The astonishing cocktail of cool and indignation that marked the de Bruin press conferences in Atlanta, City Quay and all places in between was still there, yet somewhat out of place. Androstenedione. The word barnacled itself to the day. Andro.

Androstenedione is is made naturally in the body by the gonads and adrenal glands, although Dr Jordi Segura of the Barcelona laboratory was keen to point out that what he had found was the artificial version. Traces of andro in three of de Bruin's tests, the highest concentration in the January 10th test. Dr Segura estimated the dosage had been consumed 10-12 hours earlier.

"And Dr Segura," asked Michael Beloff QC quietly, "are the concentrations of the drug diluted by the addition of alcohol?" "Yes" said Dr Segura. "So an athlete would have an incentive to add alcohol to a sample." "Yes" said Dr Segura again.

Androstenedione was first used as a performance-enhancing substance by the East Germans, having been invented by a chemist called Michael Oettell, who later went on the record to express his regret at the uses to which the Honecker regime put the substance. Secret documents, which were discovered after the unification of East and West Germany, indicated that a team of biologists, physiologists, and physicians put in charge of East German Olympic athletes experimented extensively and liberally with the substance.

Oettel later came up with the idea of applying androstenedione intra-nasally. Studies revealed that plasma testosterone levels skyrocketed shortly after using the nasal spray. The East Germans found that a sudden burst of testosterone had the potential to boost athletic performance through "psychotropic" effects. In other words, when testosterone levels were dramatically elevated, even for a short period of time, it seemed to enhance muscle strength and performance, possibly by stimulating the central nervous system.

The East Germans discovered that taking a blast of fast-acting, water-based testosterone several hours before a competition worked wonders. So how did the androstenedione nasal spray work for elite athletes in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)?

Raik Hannemann, a former GDR swimmer, described the sensation of inhaling androstenedione as "like a volcanic eruption." Not the sort of thing one would inadvertently take shortly after appearing in tears on The Late Late Show to protest innocence and purity.

According to Hannemann's evidence, androstenedione was mandatory for any athletes who wanted to participate in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but he also stated: "It tore up my nasal membranes."

THE LITTLE drug that worked has moved on since then and androstenedione "supplements" are popular among bodybuilders in capsule form. The oral version has gained popularity as a component in what users call stacking. In other words, if you are going to stockpile varieties of steroid in your system andro has qualities which aid their absorption into the system.

Androstenedione is often mentioned in underground circles together with human growth hormone as key parts of the drug cocktail commonly known as "silent speed". Human growth hormone stimulates the transport of amino acids in the body and saves the liver from the battering steroids give it.

The East Germans noted that the absorption process with capsules was slower and preferred the quick blast of nasally taken andro which left the system clear for testing within hours. One study, quoted in the German patent application stated that oral doses of andro, given to men at levels of 50 mg and 100 mg increased total testosterone by 140 to 183 percent and 211 to 237 per cent, respectively.

Later an American study carried out by the Medical College of Georgia, examined the effects of a 100 mg dose of androstenedione on women. The effects on women were markedly more dramatic than in men - women experienced a 400 to 600 per cent increase in total testosterone within an hour after oral ingestion.

Andro increases testosterone levels for up to six hours and apart from its role in the bio-synthesis of other drugs and a short-term performance-enhancing effect, studies show that it promotes aggressiveness and an increase in sexual libido.

The beauty of the drug for cheats is that the testosterone elevation involved is not only quick and significant, but baseline levels of testosterone return to normal very swiftly. Even an athlete subjected to random testing need only dodge testers for a few hours' worth of unavoidable confusion to stay ahead of the posse.

Through it all last week, we remembered what a Dutch journalist had told us in Rotterdam in the autumn of 1996. He had been close to Erik de Bruin throughout his career, especially in the early phase when De Bruin's hatred of the East German throwers on the circuit bordered on the irrational. But that was early on, said the journalist. Later his attitude changed.