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Drugs in sport

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:17 pm
by sejintenej
Most games at CH (rugby union as an example) are run under the regulations of the relevent organisation and most if not all have strict rules regarding drugs. I was one of many, perhaps thousands of, pupils with asthma and with asthma even walking to the loo can be difficult during an attack which can last weeks

The Chris Froome affair raises a question. He took ventolin (the bog-standard norm) inhaler under doctor's orders for his well known asthma and lost his winning place for that reason. Does CH actively prevent pupils taking part in sporting activities (in accordance with the relative sport's regulations) if they need to use medicines which could/ do breach those regulations? How many teachers actually know the limits acceptable to each sport? Do they have the equipment to check drug levels to ensure that pupils playing rugby do not breach the national (?international) regulations? What do they do as an alternative for pupils who, through no fault of their own, are prohibited from playing such sports? Alternatively does the school refuse to accept otherwise acceptable pupils because they have such (controlable) conditions?

You might argue that in games between houses it doesn't matter but what if another school complains that CH has fielded a steroid laden overgrown gigantesque rugby team?

In my case it took many many years to even get diagnosed and no less than 12 years to get an effective treatment (ventolin / salbutemol and most of the alternatives do not work for me) - I would certainly be over any sports limit any day of my current life

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 11:20 pm
by Pe.A
sejintenej wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:17 pm Most games at CH (rugby union as an example) are run under the regulations of the relevent organisation and most if not all have strict rules regarding drugs. I was one of many, perhaps thousands of, pupils with asthma and with asthma even walking to the loo can be difficult during an attack which can last weeks

The Chris Froome affair raises a question. He took ventolin (the bog-standard norm) inhaler under doctor's orders for his well known asthma and lost his winning place for that reason. Does CH actively prevent pupils taking part in sporting activities (in accordance with the relative sport's regulations) if they need to use medicines which could/ do breach those regulations? How many teachers actually know the limits acceptable to each sport? Do they have the equipment to check drug levels to ensure that pupils playing rugby do not breach the national (?international) regulations? What do they do as an alternative for pupils who, through no fault of their own, are prohibited from playing such sports? Alternatively does the school refuse to accept otherwise acceptable pupils because they have such (controlable) conditions?

You might argue that in games between houses it doesn't matter but what if another school complains that CH has fielded a steroid laden overgrown gigantesque rugby team?

In my case it took many many years to even get diagnosed and no less than 12 years to get an effective treatment (ventolin / salbutemol and most of the alternatives do not work for me) - I would certainly be over any sports limit any day of my current life
In the 90s some of the senior girls' in the hockey used to take amphetamines. So i was told....

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:04 pm
by J.R.
All performance aiding drugs in sport should be stopped.

HOWEVER - People will always try and get round it !

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:18 pm
by michael scuffil
In the 1920s through to the 50s, training for more than 2-3 hours a day would have been regarded as cheating. Once it became acceptable to train full-time, people had to look for another behavioural manifestation to which they could apply the term. Frankly I think 'professional sport' is an oxymoron, and equally frankly, I see nothing wrong with performance-enhancing drugs, or at least nothing more wrong with them than with a perfomance-enhancing full-time training regime, or with performance-enhancing money.

One of the sporting heroes of my youth was the middle-distance runner Derek Ibbotson. He had an office job in Leeds. When there was an AAA meeting at the White City (usually starting at 6 pm on Friday), he had to ask his boss for the afternoon off so that he could take the train to London. (I don't know whether his salary was docked.)

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:58 pm
by J.R.
michael scuffil wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:18 pm In the 1920s through to the 50s, training for more than 2-3 hours a day would have been regarded as cheating. Once it became acceptable to train full-time, people had to look for another behavioural manifestation to which they could apply the term. Frankly I think 'professional sport' is an oxymoron, and equally frankly, I see nothing wrong with performance-enhancing drugs, or at least nothing more wrong with them than with a perfomance-enhancing full-time training regime, or with performance-enhancing money.

One of the sporting heroes of my youth was the middle-distance runner Derek Ibbotson. He had an office job in Leeds. When there was an AAA meeting at the White City (usually starting at 6 pm on Friday), he had to ask his boss for the afternoon off so that he could take the train to London. (I don't know whether his salary was docked.)


Oh please, Michael.
This must be why some 'female' athletes are claimimg discrimination because of their homone levels.

Maybe in sport, we should have male entrants; female entrants, and entrants who aren't too sure of their sexuality yet.

I do apologise to the LGB (unsure) set if this offends

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:52 pm
by LongGone
michael scuffil wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:18 pm In the 1920s through to the 50s, training for more than 2-3 hours a day would have been regarded as cheating.

Ah, Flanders and Swan

They've simply no notion of playing the game
They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won
And they practice beforehand which ruins the fun!

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:29 pm
by peter2095
Frankie Boyle summed it up well:

"I want athletes to take drugs. I mean, do you want to see someone shave a hundredth of a second off the 100m record or do you want to see them run it in 3 seconds?
I don't want to see Dwaine Chambers running on steroids; i want to see him running with the legs of a kangaroo and the heart of a cheetah. I want to see him run so fast that half-way through the race, he disappears, like the car from Back to the future, reappears at the finish line as an old man, shouts 'Beware of the Chinese' and crumbles in to dust"

Let them all take drugs and the playing field will be more level

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:55 pm
by Pe.A
peter2095 wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:29 pm Frankie Boyle summed it up well:

"I want athletes to take drugs. I mean, do you want to see someone shave a hundredth of a second off the 100m record or do you want to see them run it in 3 seconds?
I don't want to see Dwaine Chambers running on steroids; i want to see him running with the legs of a kangaroo and the heart of a cheetah. I want to see him run so fast that half-way through the race, he disappears, like the car from Back to the future, reappears at the finish line as an old man, shouts 'Beware of the Chinese' and crumbles in to dust"



Let them all take drugs and the playing field will be more level
also,imagine the beards on the women

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:42 pm
by sejintenej
peter2095 wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:29 pm
Let them all take drugs and the playing field will be more level
Surely the contest is between the athletes, not the chemists and surgeons?

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:53 pm
by scrub
sejintenej wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:42 pm
peter2095 wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:29 pm
Let them all take drugs and the playing field will be more level
Surely the contest is between the athletes, not the chemists and surgeons?
Even at the first version of the Olympics where clothes and women were banned this was never the case. Anyone caught would be banned for life and have their name carved into a wall of shame, but the athletes were still at it. The consumption of sheep testicles, hallucinogens, 'magic potions' containing a form of strychnine, and opium bread were some of the earliest attempts at doping.
Fun fact - strychnine has long been in vogue despite it being a poison. The last positive test I heard of was only a few years ago.

Sports doping is a pet subject for me.

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Wed May 01, 2019 10:28 pm
by MrEd
Does CH actively prevent pupils taking part in sporting activities (in accordance with the relative sport's regulations) if they need to use medicines which could/ do breach those regulations?
At my kindest, I would award this comment the DFM. "Doesn't F***** Matter". The real scandal at CH was the appalling aggravation of asthma by the use of those bl**dy mattresses and other aspects of House life, and a total disregard for the welfare of pupils (which was the raison d'etre of the Foundation). Sod the score in a game of rugby, or football.

I was 'on pass' for runs for around 3 years due to my asthma, which flared up on arrival at CH and was a major health problem until my late 20s. Many others were asthmatic. It could have been mitigated by some simple steps, but this was not done.

Does (or did) it matter that some pupils had drugs for asthma? No, they might die without them, tan sencillo como esto, as we all know.

Does (or did) it matter that some pupils had drugs for asthma and played rugby between (or within) Houses? No. It's a bl**dy game, as transient as the morning dew, but without the benefits that flow from it.

Ditto.... and played rugby against other Schools? At most, it's a matter between the two Schools, and anyway there is no contractual situation, just an arrangement to fill an afternoon.

As for playing at a national level or higher, it's a question of the rules for the event, you abide by the rules of the sport and in particular the rules of the event. Cyclists are now forever under suspicion of having more illicit pharmacy behind them than Pablo Escobar, quite why anyone bothers with it is beyond me, since if you win, many will question how.

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Wed May 01, 2019 10:31 pm
by MrEd
Surely the contest is between the athletes, not the chemists and surgeons?
Or in motor racing:

Surely the contest is between the athletes, not the engineers and aerodynamicists?

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 9:19 pm
by rockfreak
The public school obsession with games has always been to take their minds off sex. But I'm not sure that it did.

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 9:36 pm
by J.R.
rockfreak wrote: Sun May 05, 2019 9:19 pm The public school obsession with games has always been to take their minds off sex. But I'm not sure that it did.
Whatever you do, don't mention cycling shorts, Freaky !

Re: Drugs in sport

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 9:06 pm
by MrEd
The consumption of sheep testicles, hallucinogens, 'magic potions' containing a form of strychnine, and opium bread were some of the earliest attempts at doping.
In my junior days, Barnes B won across the board at the inter-house athletics contests, I called them the East Germans for their obsession with topping the tables. I like to think that had they eaten sheep testicles, (assuming that we hadn't all done so, given CH food standards), they bl**dy well deserved to have won.