Re: Re:
ray j willings said:
Rob27172 said:
Ray -sending the same message twice doesn't mean people are going to read it or take any more notice of it
Also Blackcat doesn't say in his post that her definition is down to steroids or drugs at a young age he is simply stating it is not normal.
My girlfriend is an ex swimmer (UCLA and USA olympic trialist) and she will tell you that the diet and food regime and training regime from a young age is not only - Not Normal it is also not healthy. - She is now a nurse and knows what she is talking about.
So i take it from reading the comments here that there is something that is worrying and it may be her diet and training for a young person is too much - which as has been stated earlier is a society problem we have overlooked for too long. We look at younger and younger athletes to get better results.
and that by the time she is 15 her results are indicative of doping which is equally worrying
I was only interested in Blackcats view. I enjoy his posts and his opinion's it was not meant as an attack, just would be interested on his view to my post..
I think most athletes are very close to unhealthy ...Look at Froome or Chickens physique they are beyond healthy IMO. Athletes push and train and breakdown and rebuild etc etc their bodies take a huge amount of stress and now we have kids putting the same kind of stresses on body's not fully developed. Its not good.
Australian and American women won multiple golds as individuals.
why?
i) talent catchment was not even "the world" in the olympics. When GDR retires, it becomes open slather for the anglophones to capitalise. Australia is a seaboard nation, all population is within 50km of a beach, so nigh everyone can swim by the time they are 8.
ii) America has the collegiate athletic program, and p'raps a few thousand swimmer athlete females. effectively a full time pro
iii) at this time, the ROW did not have a training aveneue for women to graduate to, and be pros in adulthood. 16 yo women, had a fighting chance to compete with a 23yo woman if they do the same training program because of the equivalent foundation of NATURAL hormones in the women, and the older woman, had not had the advantage that a man would, in having the 7 years extra of training gone into a body and building the physique, the woman's hormones would not offer the same foundation for the same investment.
iv) no adequate employment for the women to be the full time athlete at 23. *devil's advocate: so what about the mens employment? good point, but the last 7 years, the man got a better return on his investment, and would not surrender that investment at olympic trials to his 16yo competitors, unless his name is Thorpe or Phelps.
ofcourse, if good enough, the athletes would sacrifice adult careers for one or two olympics in their twenties. and they could get a stipend from US Swimming, or lodging/board/coaching and per diem at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Post the Berlin Wall, the eastern bloc was less likely to have the sports school system and dope them from birth like the GDR. Ofcourse, they still did, but just not to the same degree, and with the same consistency. They still could not bring the entire Eastern Bloc to one pool, teach them all to swim, then work out who was the best swimmer. Swimming takes alot of infrastructure, and to recruit a significant catchment of potential athletes, teach them all to swim, then teach them swimming as a racing and competitive disciple. Australia can skip the first few stages, as the children are naturally given pool and ocean education as tots. America is the most advance western nation with infrastructure, pools and fasttimes at ridgemont high and red swimsuits. and baywatch, who can forget the hoff. ?
BUT NOW.
the ROW has caught up. China and France are significant players. And if you have a close look to the performances and results in the past two decades, you will find clusters. The Russian coach Touretski, a Berlin female sprinter group, two female groups in Brisbane Australia, primarily sprinters, and a group on the Gold Coast Australia.
there is a reason why they were all successful, they would have all taken the plunge metaphorically speaking.