April 10, 2001

8:21 PM

Coach Touretski Suspended Over Steroids Charge- Leading swimming coach Gennadi Touretski has been suspended from the Australian Institute of Sport following allegations of illegal possession of anabolic steroids. This is very big news here in Australia at the moment.
posted by Jase_B (5 comments total)

personal use? sure its not legal but its not like our golden kid swimmers are doing it... are they?
posted by johnboy at 8:32 PM on April 10, 2001

personally i never understood something ...

how is it that some people (regardless of physical build) may be able to swim comparable to a torpedo of sort ...

and on the other hand

others cant get enough know how to paddle ...
posted by a11an at 8:37 PM on April 10, 2001

Oh, that reminds me...

Wasn't there meant to be an investigation on one of the major US networks this week, alleging that American coaches sent doped athletes to the Olympics?

Ah, here we are. Cycling. Not a surprise.

It's getting to the point that you might as well declare the War on Drugs lost when it comes to many sports. Cycling's one, swimming's another. After all, there's tacit support for doping from national administrations, since doping improves the chance of medals, and from coaches, since success improves the chance of state/corporate funding.

And that doesn't just apply to the old Communist bloc: it's in any country where sport has a high profile.
posted by holgate at 8:38 PM on April 10, 2001

Every winner should be tested immediately. That would sound great, except that:
-there's 100s of variants of illegal substances athletes could take. Testing for all of them would be mighty expensive and tedious.
-Some substances can be detected in the body years after last taken, some disappear within hours. No test will work against these substances.

The bottom line is that taking illegal substances is much more sophisticated today. You may still occasionally find an Androl enhanced Arnold in the crowd, but most learn how to hide the signs of doping very effectively.
posted by Witold at 9:27 PM on April 10, 2001

a11an: I think it's acclamation to water. I've been swimming since the age of 6mos, and even at my current size, I'm pretty swift in the water - for me it's as comfortable as walking if not moreso.
posted by owillis at 9:35 PM on April 10, 2001