Potatoes, the new athletic performance enhancer?

Posted by admin at 3:50 pm

This morning I was having a conversation with a long time friend. This friend works in the Track and Field world. He works closely with Olympic athletes from all sides (business, nutrition and athletic). He also works for a former Olympic medalist, and World Champion.

During our conversation about professional and ammature athletes the top of performance enhancing steroids came up. I love this topic. For some reason it sparks a great interest to me. Anyway my friend agrees with my opinion on drugs and sport. I will quote my unnamed friend to have said “Over 90% of Track and Field athletes are on something.” I believe this to be true because if WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) doesn’t know that the performance enhancing drug exists then there can be no test for it. Therefore any drug test results will come back negative, which means a clean test. It’s that simple. Find a new drug or create a fancy new synthetic drug and bingo, you test clean, you have an advantage, and you might just have picked a great one to give you an advantage over all the other athletes that are experimenting with their own drugs. It’s sad but true, and I have no idea when the IOC (International Olympic Committee) or WADA are even going to recognize this. Clearly these professionals are smart enough to realize this. I would love to interview Dick Poud on this topic. I am sure that he would have an opinion on my theory.

Glucose in the body is important in insulin release in the body. The use of injecting insulin has been banned by the IOC since 1998. This is key for the athletes because Acording to Mark A. Jenkins (2010) “Insulin promotes anabolic (storage) processes and inhibits catabolic (breakdown) ones. Thus, it signals a “fed state” and instructs the body to store fuels for use later. Insulin promotes uptake and storage of glucose in muscle and fat cells. In the muscle, glycogen is built from glucose molecules.” The idea works because insulin boosts stamina by increasing glycogen. What does glycogen do? Well it fuels muscles during exertion, and it prevents muscles from breaking down. The “advantage” of using insulin for this purpose is that it doesn’t linger in the blood stream and thus is very hard to detect with current drug tests. However because it is illegal the group of athletes in the states are creating this insulin boost legally, through the use of potatoes.

Hmm Potatoes…the new super food of athletes?

The Olympics Continue….Drugs? Pride?

Posted by admin at 6:22 pm

 

I still look out my window and see crazy Canadian fans sporting red and white with their red mittens. The spirit of the games is still going strong into the 2nd week. Men, Women and Children all singing “O Canada” in the streets. Cries of “GO CANADA GO” can be heard all though out the venues and downtown areas. But will this last into the future or is this still a fad for these games? Will the Pride fade?

Randy Starkman said it best yesterday in his blog, ” But it does lead one to wonder if there can be a spillover effect in any way for Canadian Olympic sport. Will many – or any – of those so fervently into it at the moment retain any of that interest once the circus has left town? Will they bring their kids out to events featuring Canadian Olympians in the future such as national championships, World Cups and many other competitions?”

“I suspect, unfortunately, that nothing will change, that these athletes will go back into what’s almost a witness protection program, where the public doesn’t see them for another four years.
And that’s a shame, because a great opportunity is really being lost here. These athletes are really fine role models. Most are involved in causes that go beyond themselves.”

I couldn’t agree with Randy more.

The one thing that I can’t really comprehend yet is this. We are over halfway thru the games and not one positive doping test has occurred.  Does this mean that IOC and antidoping can screem in triumph that their new tests and implementations have been successful. Can we say that the games are clean? Or is it because the 30 positive tests before the games caught all of the doping athletes? Don’t forget that there are a lot of synthetic drugs that there is no test for. That means that even though there have yet to be any positive tests there still could be athletes that test negative that are using. Don’t forget that there is a substantial amount of historical evidence of athletes who have admitted to doping without ever being caught. Dont forget all of the negative tests Marion Jones had for years when in fact she was cheating. Also there are some national federations that cover up positive tests to keep the credibility of their athletes and their nation. And one should never forget that there is  now a test for human growth hormone, and no one knows if it will be used on the samples from Vancouver.That means we just might see some positive tests.

And It Begins…WADA announces 30 Athletes banned from the Olympics

Posted by admin at 2:36 pm

This was just released from WADA in regards to the 2010 Olympics in Vancuover.

WADA: More than 30 will not compete
http://www.espn.com/

More than 30 athletes have been barred from competing in the Vancouver Olympics after failing pre-Games testing, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, David Howman, told The New York Times on Wednesday.

WADA does not have the names of the banned athletes or the sports they compete in, Howman told the newspaper.

“To our knowledge, no Americans were involved,” Mike English, chief of sport performance for the USOC, said, according to The Times.

Shortly after this was announced CBC Canada wrote a quick article about the history of OLYMPIC CHEATING.

Twas the Day Before Christmas…only thing stiring was drugs…

Posted by admin at 3:13 pm

Blood vs. urine? USADA clears up fuss over Mayweather-Pacquiao drug testing feud

By Josh Slagter | The Grand Rapids Press

December 24, 2009, 11:55AM

Cory Olsen | The Grand Rapids PressFloyd Mayweather has never failed a drug test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and neither has Manny Pacquiao. But Mayweather’s camp wants tougher testing standings for their March 13 fight.The notion of bad blood interfering with the negotiations between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s representatives wasn’t far fetched. Neither camp gets along with the other.

But with Tuesday’s announcement from Mayweather’s camp that Pacquiao has refused the Olympic-style random drug testing, tensions have reached a new high.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission uses urine tests before and after fights to check for steroids other and performance-enhancing drugs. A blood test is required to earn a one-year license to fight in Nevada, too.

Mayweather’s camp is demanding the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency conduct random blood tests during training. Pacqiuao’s promoter, Bob Aurm, has said his fighter has agreed to be blood tested three times: in January, 30 days before the fight and then right after the fight.

Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA, told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports that both urine and blood tests are needed to determine if a fighter is clean.

“There is no urine-based tested for human-growth hormone,” Tygart said. “It doesn’t show up in the urine. It’s only a blood-based test. That’s true of a number of prohibited substances, particularly those that would enhance and aid a boxer.”

Tygert also added the schedule Arum is proposing won’t work, because a fighter would have the advantage of knowing when he’d be tested.

“That kind of window is totally unacceptable,” Tygart said. “It would provide a huge loophole for a cheater to step through and get away with cheating.”

Dr. Gary Wadler, an internal medicine physician and chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List and Methods sub-committee, supported Tygar’s position.

“The fundamental principle is that the time and place of testing is in the domain of the governing body, not of the athlete,” Wadler told Yahoo! Sports. “It would lose all its validity if the athlete could pick and choose when he is going to be tested and for what he’s going to be tested for and how he’s going to be tested. They’re sophisticated enough now that if someone wanted to, you could play the calendar to your advantage.”

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And to Arum’s notion that Pacquaio will feel “weakened” by getting his blood drawn close to the fight? Victor Conte, the founder of Bay-Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), said the tests would have no physical effect on either fighter.

“That amount would be less than one-half of one percent (of the total blood in the body),” Conte told Yahoo! Sports. “It’s not going to have any effect, the drawing of blood. Could it have some mental effect? That’s the only down side of that. It’s certainly not going to have any physical effect, giving blood before a fight.”

The implementation of drug testing remains the only sticking point on negotiations for a fight that could break all of boxing’s revenue records.

Will either side blink in time for the fight to happen? It doesn’t sound like Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe plans to back off on his demands.

“They’re backed up against the wall. Either they’re going to step up to the plate and do this, or my guy’s not stepping up into the ring and fighting,” Ellerbe said on “The Huge Show” on Wednesday. “If you have nothing to hide, why not subject yourself to this testing?”

Vitamin I-Ibuprofen

Posted by admin at 2:05 pm

Some athletes take Ibuprofen like it was candy. I myself have even been known to call it Vitamin I. However I stumbled upon this article this morning and it is a MUST-read by the NYT – Does Ibuprofen Help or Hurt? http://su.pr/4YbUzl

Performance Enhancers…in Comic Books

Posted by admin at 9:53 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_comic_book_drugs#Bzrky

A list of comic book performance enhancers:  how legit is wikipedia?

But it is kind of funny.

Fleury, the NHL and Drugs

Posted by admin at 9:47 am

Dick Pound has been saying for years that professional sports are dirty in respect to drugs. Here is enough proof for me to believe. What do you think?

http://bit.ly/4wTvY7

The Legalization of Pot (In CALIFORNIA)

Posted by admin at 1:57 pm

Hey to all of you stoners out there! I have some good news for you…well good news if you are living in California.

Marijuana advocates are expected to get as many as three pot-legalization measures voted upon in California in 2010 in the US state of California. Several polls show support for lifting the law against marijuana. 

Obviously some government officials and the federal government are not too happy about this. There will definitely be a lot of uproar.

The most likely ballot measure to pass is also the most conservative. It would legalize one ounce of marijuana for personal use by those 21 or older. In California, if you are busted with that amount in present day, it would result in a $100 fine at most.

Although, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal law enforcement officials have the right to prosecute users that comply with California’s medical marijuana law.

“Even though that federal ban is still in place and the federal government can enforce it, it doesn’t mean the states have to follow suit,” said Robert Mikos, a Vanderbilt University law professor who is well versed in the issue.

And since local and state police will not be able to legally assist the feds, who’s to say they’ll have time to seek out small-time users.

“It’s only something the feds are going to be concerned about if you’re growing tons of pot,” said Rosalie Pacula, director of drug policy research at the Rand Corp. For anything less, “they don’t have the resources to waste on it.”

Another Day Another Drug Test

Posted by admin at 12:38 pm

Universal Sports is reporting a 2 year suspension for a female sweedish hurdler. Check the article out HERE.

WADA requests files in Jamaican track cases. Will these drug cases go to CAS? http://bit.ly/mDMTC

NEW Designer Drugs

Posted by admin at 11:18 pm

 2 new drugs have been found to have been used during the Tour De France.

Check out the ARTICLE.

RUBBBBBBBBBBBISH! Athletes will do anything to win. If you can garuntee they wont get a positive test they will take it. Thank you science for having the break throughs that you are to find out the athletes taking these drugs.

I feel like we will never win the battle because everyone is always trying to beat the system. Will we eventually give up the battle and let them just cheat and see how much they can achieve? Is there something morally or ethically wrong with that? Or does it make sense because they are just doing it anyway?