Comments on: Drugs in Sport – No such thing as a level playing field http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/ The adventures, rants and ramblings of Ken & Sheldon, two guys who like to ride bikes. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:00:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Sheldon Smart http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-224 Sheldon Smart Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:41:13 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-224 @ Ed, Enhancing performance through surgery. Yeah... That's a whole other kettle of fish. Good call. That makes me wonder about genetic manipulation as well... @ Ed,

Enhancing performance through surgery. Yeah… That’s a whole other kettle of fish. Good call. That makes me wonder about genetic manipulation as well…

]]> By: Ed Defy http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-221 Ed Defy Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:24:44 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-221 What about performance enhancing surgery? http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2007/07/20/performance-enhancing-surgery-the-perils-of-tommy-john.aspx And if you haven't seen Chris Bells' "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" run out to the movie store and rent it tonight. It's very provocative and insightful. Here's a link to a brief clip: http://www.zuguide.com/index.php#Bigger-Stronger-Faster What about performance enhancing surgery?

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2007/07/20/performance-enhancing-surgery-the-perils-of-tommy-john.aspx

And if you haven’t seen Chris Bells’ “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” run out to the movie store and rent it tonight. It’s very provocative and insightful.

Here’s a link to a brief clip: http://www.zuguide.com/index.php#Bigger-Stronger-Faster

]]> By: Sheldon Smart http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-212 Sheldon Smart Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:54:48 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-212 @ Bill, Very well said. We might already be there, in some ways. @ Bill,

Very well said. We might already be there, in some ways.

]]> By: Bill http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-211 Bill Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:00:38 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-211 Besides having fun, sport allows one to excel at a physical activity. Competitive sport also helps develop self confidence, self worth and pride in ones achievements thereby strengthening ones character. It teaches honour and respect for others. This is done within the confines of the easy to understand guidelines and rules of engagement which were established in the interest of "fair play". This is a general term, I don't think there is pure fair play or unpure fair play. Ken wonders when does one make the mental leap from athlete to charlatan. Sporting competition is no different from every day life. When does a person make the mental leap from being an honest person/competitor to being a cheat depends on the strength of that persons character. There will always be cheats and so be it. That is not something to worry about. What I worry about is a time when we begin to accept, honour, worship and reward cheats. Besides having fun, sport allows one to excel at a physical activity. Competitive sport also helps develop self confidence, self worth and pride in ones achievements thereby strengthening ones character. It teaches honour and respect for others. This is done within the confines of the easy to understand guidelines and rules of engagement which were established in the interest of “fair play”. This is a general term, I don’t think there is pure fair play or unpure fair play.
Ken wonders when does one make the mental leap from athlete to charlatan. Sporting competition is no different from every day life. When does a person make the mental leap from being an honest person/competitor to being a cheat depends on the strength of that persons character.
There will always be cheats and so be it. That is not something to worry about. What I worry about is a time when we begin to accept, honour, worship and reward cheats.

]]> By: Ken Hurd http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-210 Ken Hurd Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:31:31 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-210 Cheating? Probably not. But I think it definitely stops becoming a sport... Or at least the sport of cycling. But maybe you're on to something... Maybe there should be a separate category where drugs can just go wild and see how far they can push the human body.. Essentially just another category of racing ;-) Cheating? Probably not. But I think it definitely stops becoming a sport… Or at least the sport of cycling.

But maybe you’re on to something… Maybe there should be a separate category where drugs can just go wild and see how far they can push the human body.. Essentially just another category of racing ;-)

]]> By: Big Ben http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-209 Big Ben Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:28:47 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-209 Is it cheating if everyone is doping though? I say no. Is it cheating if everyone is doping though? I say no.

]]> By: Ken Hurd http://blog.bikeridr.com/2009/04/1115/comment-page-1/#comment-207 Ken Hurd Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:24:23 +0000 http://blog.bikeridr.com/?p=1115#comment-207 You bring up a number of good points my friend, and I would have to say that I pretty much agree with all of them, especially that there is no *real* level playing field - though most professional level teams (olympics obviously excluded) all have access to the same type of training environments. Athletes, coaches, sports physiologists, and doctors are always going to be looking for that edge... However, I think the one thing that I might disagree with is your puritan stance on not poisoning your body. I agree that if you're at the top of your game as an athlete and have access to all the latest and greatest training strategies, you're not going to want to mess that up by dabbling in chemical enhancers (you'll probably be tested every 14 days anyway), but what about the rest of the boys in the peloton? What if I told you that if you didn't get a little injection once a week, you'd loose your job? Especially as I get older one of the things that amazes me the most in young people (and athletes even more) is their short sightedness – I don't fault them... I was there once... But in most cases they're not too concerned with a sustainable career, they're just concerned with immediate gain. Whether it be drugs or an injury, they just don't care that playing the last quarter of the game could mess their knee up for life, or that the steroids could shrivel their balls to the size of dimes. What saddens me more, I guess is that athletes and coaches even consider drugs... I guess in my mind it stops being a "sport" and starts being a laboratory. At least when people are traveling to high altitudes for training and things like that, they're using the natural environment to their gain, not manipulating science. Similar to what you're getting at Smart, I feel that a win with the help of drugs would be hollow, but maybe it's different at a pro level and they're just looking for the win "at all costs"... <em>I just don't know when or how they make the mental leap from athlete to charlatan.</em> You bring up a number of good points my friend, and I would have to say that I pretty much agree with all of them, especially that there is no *real* level playing field – though most professional level teams (olympics obviously excluded) all have access to the same type of training environments. Athletes, coaches, sports physiologists, and doctors are always going to be looking for that edge… However, I think the one thing that I might disagree with is your puritan stance on not poisoning your body.

I agree that if you’re at the top of your game as an athlete and have access to all the latest and greatest training strategies, you’re not going to want to mess that up by dabbling in chemical enhancers (you’ll probably be tested every 14 days anyway), but what about the rest of the boys in the peloton?

What if I told you that if you didn’t get a little injection once a week, you’d loose your job?

Especially as I get older one of the things that amazes me the most in young people (and athletes even more) is their short sightedness – I don’t fault them… I was there once… But in most cases they’re not too concerned with a sustainable career, they’re just concerned with immediate gain. Whether it be drugs or an injury, they just don’t care that playing the last quarter of the game could mess their knee up for life, or that the steroids could shrivel their balls to the size of dimes.

What saddens me more, I guess is that athletes and coaches even consider drugs… I guess in my mind it stops being a “sport” and starts being a laboratory. At least when people are traveling to high altitudes for training and things like that, they’re using the natural environment to their gain, not manipulating science.

Similar to what you’re getting at Smart, I feel that a win with the help of drugs would be hollow, but maybe it’s different at a pro level and they’re just looking for the win “at all costs”… I just don’t know when or how they make the mental leap from athlete to charlatan.

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