Post by ChrisC on Sept 15, 2004 18:31:29 GMT -5
I'm not trying to get on a soapbox and get into a drug/drugfree argument. I just thought this was a nice article to read in the sports section of a national newspaper (Barbados).
A THORNY ISSUE: Bad blood for muscle - Wednesday 15, September-2004
by ANDI THRONHILL
Local bodybuilding is getting a bad name.
The instances are becoming too steady of people within the sport testing positive for banned substances. The guilty might not only be harming their own health but they are also contaminating the image of the sport they purport to love.
This is the greatest indictment when we show to the true supporters and the impressionable youngsters who might want to get involved that not everyone plans to play fair.
Some people might be deterred. What’s wrong with hard work?
Is it a crime these days? Is the price of winning that big? There is sufficient evidence that drug testing procedures are a lot more advanced now than before so those who try to beat the system are either foolish or arrogant.
When caught they should accept whatever penalty goes with the indiscretion even though there is the right of appeal. The percentage of those having original verdicts overturned on the grounds of some technicality are in the minority so it’s best to come clean from the start.
Evenso, I don’t think our bodybuilders need to give any credence to the widely held suspicions of chronic drug use in the sport. Many of us still believe the traditional way of building mass and muscle through pumping iron supplemented by wise and healthy nutritional practices is the only choice. Anything else is a risk not worth taking. In cricketing terms it’s a low percentage shot.
Not only that,the drug culture in bodybuilding means that it can also rob us of a lot of our competitiveness at regional and international shows. It has to hurt the national effort when someone of Roger Boyce’s calibre won’t be able to compete at the Central American and Caribbean Championships.
We need to have our best teams competing if we are to regain our supremacy in regional bodybuilding. Many years ago it was a foregone conclusion that Barbados would’ve been the team to beat.
The gap is definitely not the same nor are we as dominant as before although some may conclude that the other countries may have improved. Taking the drug route as a short cut will not help our case or our cause. Furthermore, this sport has brought us so much glory in the past that it is very painful when its image gets tarnished in any form or fashion.
It’s not fair to those who, through hard work, have put us on the map. The likes of Darcy Beckles, Earl Maynard, Roy Callender, Bernard Sealy, Jenny Beckles and Maggie Callender weren’t overnight successes.
They worked their bodies to the bone to become champions. I regard it as an act of selfishness when others come along and don’t have any respect for those who toiled to build a dynasty and a tradition of excellence that paved the way for others.
Maybe the problem is that we don’t have enough students of the game therefore they can’t have any appreciation for history.
The influx of drugs in bodybuilding and sports in general will destroy all that others sacrificed in their quest to bring recognition to something that they really loved and valued.
It’s not too late to turn back the clock. It’s not too late for the few who are bent on taking short cuts to redeem themselves, but they must realise the time is now. A drugs-free bodybuilder can still be the best one in the world.
A THORNY ISSUE: Bad blood for muscle - Wednesday 15, September-2004
by ANDI THRONHILL
Local bodybuilding is getting a bad name.
The instances are becoming too steady of people within the sport testing positive for banned substances. The guilty might not only be harming their own health but they are also contaminating the image of the sport they purport to love.
This is the greatest indictment when we show to the true supporters and the impressionable youngsters who might want to get involved that not everyone plans to play fair.
Some people might be deterred. What’s wrong with hard work?
Is it a crime these days? Is the price of winning that big? There is sufficient evidence that drug testing procedures are a lot more advanced now than before so those who try to beat the system are either foolish or arrogant.
When caught they should accept whatever penalty goes with the indiscretion even though there is the right of appeal. The percentage of those having original verdicts overturned on the grounds of some technicality are in the minority so it’s best to come clean from the start.
Evenso, I don’t think our bodybuilders need to give any credence to the widely held suspicions of chronic drug use in the sport. Many of us still believe the traditional way of building mass and muscle through pumping iron supplemented by wise and healthy nutritional practices is the only choice. Anything else is a risk not worth taking. In cricketing terms it’s a low percentage shot.
Not only that,the drug culture in bodybuilding means that it can also rob us of a lot of our competitiveness at regional and international shows. It has to hurt the national effort when someone of Roger Boyce’s calibre won’t be able to compete at the Central American and Caribbean Championships.
We need to have our best teams competing if we are to regain our supremacy in regional bodybuilding. Many years ago it was a foregone conclusion that Barbados would’ve been the team to beat.
The gap is definitely not the same nor are we as dominant as before although some may conclude that the other countries may have improved. Taking the drug route as a short cut will not help our case or our cause. Furthermore, this sport has brought us so much glory in the past that it is very painful when its image gets tarnished in any form or fashion.
It’s not fair to those who, through hard work, have put us on the map. The likes of Darcy Beckles, Earl Maynard, Roy Callender, Bernard Sealy, Jenny Beckles and Maggie Callender weren’t overnight successes.
They worked their bodies to the bone to become champions. I regard it as an act of selfishness when others come along and don’t have any respect for those who toiled to build a dynasty and a tradition of excellence that paved the way for others.
Maybe the problem is that we don’t have enough students of the game therefore they can’t have any appreciation for history.
The influx of drugs in bodybuilding and sports in general will destroy all that others sacrificed in their quest to bring recognition to something that they really loved and valued.
It’s not too late to turn back the clock. It’s not too late for the few who are bent on taking short cuts to redeem themselves, but they must realise the time is now. A drugs-free bodybuilder can still be the best one in the world.