In 1983 after Michels won three gold medals from the Pan American Games, he realized he was about two years away from setting world weightlifting records.
Michels repudiated his positive test for synthetic testosterone, which before the introduction of the Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry assay, could not be identified in athletes' samples.
Curiously, Michels was cleared to compete in the Games after testing clean as part of a pre-screening program conducted by the USOC.
After a lengthy legal battle, wherein Michels contested the testing procedures and laboratory findings, his ban was upheld, ruling him out of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
For one, the recently ratified Amateur Sports Act of 1978 guaranteed athletes "swift and equitable" resolution of disputes, including the adjudication of doping cases.