mennea admitted that he had used human growth hormone once during the last year of his career. in an interview to an italian newspaper in 1987 he told that in 1984, during the summer olympics in los angeles, an american physiotherapist proposed a doping treatment to him. back in italy he tried two injections of human growth hormone but the crisis of conscience he got was so important that it induced him to retire from activity: "i realized that in my life i was looking for everything, except for that." although the usage of the substance is banned in modern-day competition, it was not banned at the time by the iaaf.