Lamar Odom used a prosthetic penis to pass a drug test for the 2004 Olympics

Lamar Odom Reveals He Used a Prosthetic Penis to 'Pass a Drug Test' for the 2004 Olympics

In 2004, one of Lamar Odom‘s biggest dreams came true.

The NBA champion was offered a spot on the U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team, which was “one of the biggest honors in my career,” Odom, 39, writes in his new memoir, Darkness to Light, exclusively excerpted in PEOPLE.

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But, as Odom writes, “the joy of being named to the twelve-man roster quickly turned to anxiety when Olympic officials informed me that I would have to pass a drug test before officially joining the team.”

At the time, Odom was using drugs and knew that he wouldn’t pass an official test, which would disqualify him from competing at the Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Then living in Los Angeles, Odom received a “call from USA Basketball that a drug tester would be coming to my house in a few days to administer the screening,” he writes. “There was absolutely no way I was going to pass. I’d been smoking weed every day that summer. Panic set in.”

So, Odom got creative.

“We started googling ‘fake penises’ and studied different ways to beat a drug test,” he writes. “After an exhaustive search we ordered a giant, rubber, black c— to arrive the next day.”

And when the official tester arrived at Odom’s home to administer the test, the NBA champion was prepared, recruiting his drug-free trainer “to urinate into the reservoir of the phallus, which was hidden in the balls,” he writes.

Image zoom Jamie Squire/Getty

“He handed me the rubber penis and left the bathroom as I strapped it on,” Odom writes about his trainer.

The NBA security official then entered the bathroom and watched from two feet away as Odom squeezed out his trainer’s pee from the prosthetic.

“I unzipped my pants and carefully slid the fake penis through the zipper hole. To get the pee to come out of the tip, I had to squeeze the shaft repeatedly,” Odom writes.

Although Odom admits in his book that he “was paranoid it wouldn’t work,” he passed the test after he handed the official the warm cup of his trainer’s urine.

“He stuck a thermometer in the cup to gauge the temperature … satisfied that the pee was mine, said ‘Welcome to Team USA,’ ” Odom writes.

Odom’s memoir also explores how his drug addiction —which resulted in a near-fatal overdose in 2015 — took a negative toll on his relationships, including with ex-wife Khloé Kardashian.

Image zoom Kevin Mazur/Getty

During their marriage, Odom cheated on Kardashian, 34, he reveals in the book, and she eventually discovered the infidelities.

“I was shocked and embarrassed,” he told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “I wanted to take it back, but you can’t. [I] wanted to hide it. But that sick sin was hard for me to hide … I had a problem.”

Kardashian’s rep did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Continued Odom: “[I] ran out of porn to watch! That’s how you know when you are going a little overboard.”

Odom’s addiction to sex was compounded by his addiction to drugs.

Image zoom Austin Hargrave

“Sex was a trigger for me to do drugs,” he told PEOPLE. “Because you double up on [that] good feeling.”

Thankfully, Odom is now drug-free, but admits that he’s still working through his demons.

“I’m still an addict,” he writes in his book. “I still struggle … [But] I will not go into the darkness. Ever again.”