It's not a nightmare vision, it's reality: the wagonloads full of pills and ampoules that competitive athletes take to treat their terrible pain.
And with the sole purpose of being able to demand further extreme performance from their broken bones and joints without breaking down crying.
In professional football, it is said, painkillers like chocolate beans are circulating, yes, also for national players.
This week, hockey star Leon Draisaitl was seen limping to the boards in the Stanley Cup and shortly thereafter leaping back onto the ice like a young stag.
In Stuttgart you can study the results of Andy Murray's metal hip test.
Rafael Nadal recently won in Paris for the umpteenth time, this time without his left foot: he was totally stunned.
No one knows why he does this to himself when he could easily find a job as a visual object in orthopedic seminars.
And that for all signs of wear and tear on the human body.
But he wants to keep trying.
"If he survives, he will be interviewed afterwards," Rainhard Fendrich sang 40 years ago.
And yes: "Long live sport!"