t-and-f: Athletes told to avoid supplements
Athletes told to avoid supplements http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/other_sports/newsid_1067000/1067428.stm Johan Koss is taking a hard line over failed drug tests Athletes who test positive for banned substances after taking supplements have been warned they have only themselves to blame. Former Olympic speedskating gold medallist Johan Koss told an IOC commission in Lausanne that supplements were not helpful to healthy competitors. A member of the IOC's athletes' commission and a spokesman for the World Anti-Doping Agency, he said: "It is totally unnecessary to take them. "They certainly give the opportunity for a positive sample. Why should they use this, so-called healthy athletes? "Recent findings show that supplements may contain drugs that will cause athletes to test positive for substances that are currently on the banned list. No-nonsense "We as a commission fully endorse that athletes must take full responsibility for all drugs that are found in their bodies due to the use of nutritional supplements." The IOC's no-nonsense stance will be a bitter blow for athletes who are fighting positive doping tests, claiming they failed because of the supplements they were taking. Most cases involve the steroid nandrolone. Koss added: "I don't want to go into current outstanding cases. Rather let us look to the future." Part of the problem has been caused by inconsistent labelling on food supplements, many of which are made in the United States. The IOC and the US Food and Drugs Administration have been in talks to try and improve the labelling of such products so athletes can see clearly what is in them.
t-and-f: Foot Locker TV
The Foot Locker H.S. XC Championships will be shown on ESPN tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm(EST) and on Dec.17 at 1:30am(EST). It will also air on Dec.27 as part of the Scholastic Sports America show on ESPN...time is uncertain at this point. Toni Reavis, Ed Eyestone and Deena Drossin are the announcers. Walt Murphy
t-and-f: collegiate schedule
Does anyone out there know of a composite indoor collegiate schedule on the web anywhere? I would imagine one not to be completed until January, however I have not seen one yet. Thanks, Tom Borish www.mactrack.net
t-and-f: Kent Winter Open summary and results
Hi all, An article from yesterday's OHIO Track Running Report on last Saturday's Kent Winter open is now posted on www.trackprofile.com . Highlights include a new MAC 5000 record by Toledo frosh Tuula Laitinen (16:25.13) and plenty of auto and provisional qualifying D2 marks. Enjoy! --- | Bob Ramsak | TRACK PROFILE/OHIO Track Running Report | http://www.trackprofile.com | Cleveland, Ohio USA | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
t-and-f: Anselm Lebourne not U.S. citizen?
Greetings, all: Among the many interesting nuggets found in Suzy Hess' minutes of the USATF Masters TF meetings in Albuquerque: Suzy writes: "(Records czar) Pete Mundle advised that the records in the annual report were amended to include new marks, misspellings, changes in dates. Mundle reported that Anselm LaBourne is possibly a Haitian citizen." This is weird. Anselm competed for the United States at the 1999 world WAVA meet in Gateshead and won the M40 1500. He also won a USATF Masters Runner of the Year award in 1999 for his age-group. At no time before, during or immediately after the meet (or during the honors committee meeting) did I hear anyone challenge Anselm's official nationality. Why now? Suzy also writes: "Graeme Shirley proposed, and the committee agreed, to adopt all WAVA standards for USA competitions, including the 27" hurdle standard, and the 500-700 gm javelin." This is interesting. I noted a year ago (see http://www.egroups.com/message/masterstf/1429) how the USATF Masters TF Committee balked at going along with the lower hurdle heights for older age groups for a variety of reasons, mostly the cost to meet directors of buying a complete set of hurdles that go lower than 30 inches (widely available in Europe but not so easily found in USA). So what caused the turn-around? More important, will USATF be informed of the new hurdle heights (and spacings) so the next USATF rulebook doesn't leave out important information as it has in the past? Suzy writes: "The executive committee approved establishing a committee on the drug issue. This group will be chaired by Rose Monday. Kathy Jager volunteered to be on the committee." This is curious, since Suzy earlier wrote: " (Ken) Weinbel stated that USATF is not in the drug testing business for masters. USATF addressed the problem of our positive drug test and forwarded the problem to the IAAF, and IAAF passed it to WAVA. We will establish a small committee to lobby with WAVA. Rose Monday will act as drug-policy liaison with WAVA and will chair this committee." This means that Kathy Jager will sit on a committee lobbying WAVA over Kathy Jager -- presumably her attempt to receive early reinstatement from her 2-year drug ban after testing positive for a minute amount of syntehtic testosterone that was part of her doctor-prescribed hormone-replacement therapy for symptoms of menopause. Kathy certainly should be able to give input on the general issue of masters and doping rules, but she shouldn't be on an official committee that deals with her own case. Just doesn't appear kosher, from a conflict-of-interest standpoint. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Great athletes are not simply born great - Coe
The Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 13 December 2000 Putting the gene genie back in the bottle By Sebastian Coe CHANNEL 4 recently charted the shark-infested waters of political correctness and emerged intact. It has often been the graveyard of eminent scientists, Sir Roger Bannister included, when consideration has been given to sporting prowess and race. Channel 4 attempted to identify genetic advantages that might account for the dominance of Kenyan middle and long-distance runners, since they first emerged on the world stage at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968. I found it interesting, not only because for the bulk of my career Kenya's finest, namely the Kalengin people, were chasing the same spoils as I was, but because it also left deeper questions about the philosophy of competition. Because in the past there has been so much doctrinairism and on occasions deliberate misunderstanding when there has been any discussion of ethnic differences in whatever field of activity they arise, Channel 4 did well to concentrate on the science and leave the sociologists and the rag-bag of interest groups out of the debate. Is there, they asked, any genetic inheritance of specific physiological potential that can be clearly identified and separated from socio-economic and environmental conditioning? These last two factors will always play a significant part in the making of an athlete, but they must be kept quite separate in any study searching for a true genetic difference. In poorer Third World countries the large sums of money available from success on athletics' grand prix circuit is an extremely powerful motivator. There are other important factors to be taken into account. It is quite easy to misunderstand athletics in Kenya; although it is a relatively poor country with limited financial resources for sport, it would be a serious mistake to think of Kenyan athletes succeeding on physical superiority alone. The Kenyan Federation have created a development programme at all levels, including the schools, which over the years has led to some very sophisticated coaching. This is something of which they are justifiably proud and an area from which we might learn. If your environment and economic circumstances leads to a walking and running lifestyle - Kenyan youngsters, particularly the Kalengin, run upwards of 10 miles a day to and from school - then it is not unnatural that you might want to exhibit your prowess by showing how well you can do it and in Kenya there has been a rich supply of successful role models. All this has to be stripped away before assessing any actual genetic superiority, the evidence for which might finally rest with the exercise physiologist. But what of genetic superiority and does it exist? Even if it were possible it would still be a morally unacceptable, if simple experiment, to transplant a significant test population of the Kalengin. They would have to live and cope with a soft Western European lifestyle away from their traditional healthy, high- energy diet and without marrying outside their own racial group. We could then see if and how long an inherited genetic advantage survived - an advantage of enhanced aerobic capacity derived from millennia of living and working at high altitude. But there are other considerations too. Like those of overall mechanical and biological efficiency; the biomechanical advantages derived from different body dimensions. The length of the leg and the relative lengths of the upper and lower parts of the leg, the positions of the attachments of the muscles around the joints of their prime movers, could also be very important. Would one gene cover it all or would researchers be looking for additional genes? This is all very interesting, but we must ask whether, if any ethnic group holds a significant genetic athletic superiority, is it of any practical significance for athletes and athletics? I think not. In sport the athlete is always left with the same options. Great athletes are not simply born great. No one is born a great anything. A baby may have a unique genetic inheritance that could greatly favour a particular activity but that is only a potential advantage, it does not exist as an actual accomplishment. To turn this potential into an actual ability will require the application of much study and practice, be the subject a budding athlete or musician. In short, great athletes are not born, they are made. They are a complex mix of genetics, environment, an indomitable will to win, often a sacrificial lifestyle, an excellent coach and if they are to be long-lasting, an obsession with consistency. When I started in athletics I was frequently told that I was too short to be a miler. I broke the world record three times. Later this changed to `I could not compete successfully against athletes who used performance enhancing drugs'. But it must have happened. The choice has always been the same; in reality you can either quit in moral
Re: t-and-f: Great athletes are not simply born great - Coe
This topic and article make me think. What is the fascination with downplaying something so elementary, as genetic makeup? We are easy to accept that genetics make up our person, but are reluctant to realize that this same "fact" does dictate some given advantages in life. A 3 year old that can sit and play the piano, was born that way, he was blessed with a gift. Speed, and endurance are no different. We have our gifts, some are more gifted than others, in varying arenas. Our world is track where speed and endurance and strength are the gifts we live with. This is not to say that it is the only factor or variable, but it is to say it is a factor. Genetic predisposition is not evil, nor is it to be dispelled, it is a fact of life. Yes, I think there is a group of people predisposed at birth to run farther faster, just as I believe there is a group of people that are on average taller than everyone else. We are arguing against something that cannot be disproved, it is nature, and some of us need to face that. You are not going to train the average Joe to run 9.79, ever! DGS The G.O.A.T.
Re: t-and-f: Re: German women + records
1) Can someone define this post for me, it is gibberish! 2) Tainted records is not a joke but a documented fact. The German regime is not a rumor any longer, but has been proven and admitted to. As for your tangent concerning training techniques, as a sprint coach I do not know what you are talking about. As a matter of fact, most sprint coaches I know believe in short distance, specific training. But we can explore the benefits of training techniques in Edmonton, Paris, and Athens over the next 4 years. DGS The G.O.A.T.
t-and-f: Kansas State All-comers Indoor Results Dec 8
Results from this past weekends All-comers meet at Manhattan can be found at www.k-statesports.com/track/stats/2001/IN-2000AllComers.html phil weishaar chapman kansas
