The sprinter Dennis Mitchell, an Olympic bronze medallist, claims to have personally experienced the effect having sex had on his testosterone level. He was immediately banned from competition in 1998 after testing positive for having higher than normal levels of testosterone in his body an indication that he was supplementing his natural level by taking additional doses of the hormone in order to enhance his performance. Mitchell's defense, which prevailed on appeal, was that his positive drug test was the result of having had sex four times (and drinking five bottles of beer) the night before the test was administered.