Reason Canada Did So Badly In Olympics

I work for the Department of National Defense in Canada. A brochure was recently inserted for distribution to the readers of a monthly newspaper called the ‘Maple Leaf’. I would like to share with you the wisdom contained therein. If this is official doctrine from which Canada choses to develope policy regarding ‘helping’ athletes, then god help us.

The following is how the information is presented…

-Article begin
'The Dietary Supplement Dilemma: Helpful or Harmful?

Protein Powders.

Marketing Claims: “Protein powders will help you to build larger muscles and provide you with greater exercise stamina”

Facts: Only resistance training activities will stimulate muscle growth. Since the body recycles most of the protein you breakdown during exercise, you only need to eat a small amount of protein to meet your body’s need to build and repair. The average Canadian Forces member’s diet contains more than enough protein to meet the needs of the hardest working athletes in the world. For example, a 90kg service mamber who is preparing for the Nijmegen
march(a 100 mile forced march with full , 20lb pack over 3 days)will have his/her daily protein needs met by eating 2 chicken breasts. Eating more protein than your body needs will not promote extra muscle growth. Any extra protein will be converted into either glucose or stored as fat.

-Anonymous testimonial by CF member
When I was a pup around 1998, I was using excess amounts of protein supplements. The results were good, but when I did my medical, they found that my cholesterol was elevated. For the first time in my life, my cholesterol was out of whack!(their punctuation) When I stopped all the supplements, it went back to normal’
Article end-

Needless to say, where could you start tearing this thing apart. I particulary like the line “The average Canadian Forces member’s diet contains more than enough protein to meet the needs of the hardest working athletes in the world.”

Apparently I went out this morning and bought enough protein to fuel my growth for the next 1 and 1/2 years, I got 30 lbs of ‘whey and egg’. The last such purchase was 6 months ago and was merely one of several sources I have personally used this year. Somebody is confused, I am not convinced that it is me.

The brochure also expounds on
Creatine(largely useless,except for ‘exceptional cases’)
Ephedrine(evil… Banned… use upon pain of death),
Multi vits, herbals(waste of money if you ‘eat well’)
Caffeine(is very effective performance enhancer provided it is taken in the correct amounts and for the right activities(it really is to weep isn’t it))
and other products offering various specious comments.

Presented for your amusement and comments. Please, let me say before anyone else suggests it… I DON’T SUPPORT THIS AT ALL…:wink:

Jessus I thought they would have come out of th stone age by now???

The last time I went to Montreal in '99 I went to a GNC and the supplements they had there where few and far between mostly made up of “herbal medicines”, glad I had brought my supply of EPH833 and protein when I went

Canada’s olympic performance sucks because their support system sucks and they are one of the few countries that don’t realize that drugs are almost necessary to win in certain events.

WOW !!!11111111
Must have been a politician with no science training who wrote that piece of shit.

Why not have Canadians like Doctor Lemon or our own JB (people who are actually qualified) write the nutrition info for Canadian athletes and to decide what supplements are legal or not.

Some of the preeminent (best) Strength Coaches and Nutrition Gurus came from Canada (CT, JB, CP, CF just to name a few) yet they continue to do awful at national and Olympic competitions. If the Canadian sports governing bodies took a second to look around they would find some of the best Coaches and Gurus in the world. Thy need to broaden there horizons and quite being conventional in their training.

[quote]nArKeD wrote:
Canada’s olympic performance sucks because their support system sucks and they are one of the few countries that don’t realize that drugs are almost necessary to win in certain events.[/quote]

That’s complete horseshit. The thought that you need to cheat to win automatically puts you at a mental disadvantage. How are you suppose to compete if you are so concerned about the guy in the lane beside you. Donovan Bailey broke the world record in one of the most pressure filled athletic events because he didn’t give a shit what rocket fuel the other guys were taking. He was going to beat them anyways. Canada’s performance was poor because we need more athletes of his mindset, not the mindset of “drugs are almost necessary to win”

[quote]Ken Rose wrote:
That’s complete horseshit. The thought that you need to cheat to win automatically puts you at a mental disadvantage. How are you suppose to compete if you are so concerned about the guy in the lane beside you. Donovan Bailey broke the world record in one of the most pressure filled athletic events because he didn’t give a shit what rocket fuel the other guys were taking. He was going to beat them anyways. Canada’s performance was poor because we need more athletes of his mindset, not the mindset of “drugs are almost necessary to win”
[/quote]

Ken, so basically you’re saying drugs don’t work? If clean Canadians say their prayers, take their vitamins, and hire sports psychologists, they can compete with anyone in the world that’s loaded to the gills with drugs?

You have to be kidding me. The difference between drugged athletes and clean athletes in the 100m is a matter of tenths of seconds, not hundredths. You won’t even be able to make it to the final let alone make the A standard required to make it to the Olympics.

For some sports that rely more on skill than athletism drug use isn’t as important. But basically any event in track and field you need to have some artificial assistance to make it to the top.

[quote]Bri Hildebrandt wrote:
But basically any event in track and field you need to have some artificial assistance to make it to the top. [/quote]

Brian, I’m not saying that drugs don’t work. But Donovan didn’t take anything and he ruled the world for 3 years. Obadele Thompson was even more talented than Donovan, but was always upset and concerned with what everyone was taking and how unfair it way and he didn’t win any of his major meets because he was to preoccupied with what others were taking. There are many at the top in track that are clean. I have personal knowledge of this, and I get frustrated when people paint everyone with the “drug” brush.

Ken,

How personal is your knowledge? Are you best friends with Donovan Bailey in which he confides everything? Or are you making this assumption because he says he’s clean.

It all doesn’t make sense to me. Basically what you’re saying is, if a clean athlete trains hard and has the correct mental attitude then they can compete with any drugged athlete in the world on an equal level, assuming they have equal genetics? Or are you saying that Donovan Bailey has superior genetics and that’s why he was able to make up the difference?

Hi Bri,
Yes, Donovan is one of my best friends. And I’m not saying that just genetics and mental attitude can make up the advantage that drugs gives others. But I’ll give you an example. In 97, when Donovan and Maurice were putting together some pretty great races against each other, you could see a pretty big difference in their training. Donovan would spend MORE time getting ART therapy from Mark Lindsay and Jeremy Graham than he would training. His ART therapy was 2 hours, post workout and weights every day. Maurice, John Drummond, and the 6 other HSI athletes had one massage therapist to share between them (who didn’t know any ART), and no chiropracter. Their massage sessions were 20 min to 1/2 and hour. I’m saying that had they spent as must time on recovery as Donovan had, they probably wouldn’t have needed their rocket fuel.

As for the mental outlook, I was trying to make a comparison with Oba and Donovan. Obadele Thompson is so physically gifted, he’s probably the most wired guy on the the planet. He is also deeply religious, and would often get upset if others would swear during training sessions. This definately affected his workouts. He would spend hours complaining about what other athletes were on and how unfair it was. In Sydney ind the semi finals, he could have broke the insane (rumored EPO fueled) 200m world record but he WALKED the last 10m and still ran under 20s. But in the final, he choked again. Now, I don’t know Oba super well but I know him well enough to know that he was concerned by what others were taking.

In my first post here I should have been more specific. I realize that the support system in Canada is not efficient. But regarding the drug thing, I’m just tired of idiots like Charlie Francas run around and say that they are necessary when they are not. There are many top sprinters that are clean, but instead rely on smart training and therapy. Charlie runs around Toronto and says he knows what Donovan “took” in 96, then when confronted denies it. He’s a coward, and his success from Ben actually came from Ben changing Charlie’s tempo based workouts to intense sprint workouts which Ben preferred.

On a side note, did you live in Calgary? I think we played football together.

Ken,

Thanks for the info. I’m a huge track fan, and enjoy the stories.

You kinda caught me with my foot in my mouth, when you said you were a good friend of Bailey’s. I wasn’t expecting that. :slight_smile:

I guess most of my info pertaining to drug use has came from Charlie Francis. I understand as well that the amounts the athletes can take is rather small due to windows of opportunity and detection times. It’s not like the Mr. Olympia or WSM where they can splurge to their hearts content. I understand as well that things are much different post '88 with respect to drug use. I think back then drug use had a much larger impact than it does now. Some of the world records made before then are going to stand for quite awhile. Most notably the shotput and discus records, as well as women’s short sprints.

I live in the Niagara Region actually. I was in Toronto for a few years during my track career but have settled down here for the time being. I may move back shortly though.

Did you compete yourself in track?

Ken,

Thanks for the perspective as well. It’s opened my mind a little. I perhaps allowed myself to be a little too judgemental along one side of the spectrum.

I guess I was getting frustrated as well but with people saying that all athletes are clean, with only a select few that are cheating.

No problem Brian,
Anyways, yea I use to run track and play football, and I played in Calgary with a guy by your name, he ended up playing with the Eskimos. Donovan’s currently writing a book with a lot of behind the scenes stuff that is interesting

I think our poor understanding of the suppliments available to our American cousins contributes to our poor performance in many things. I couldn’t even get Canada Health to clear the new HOT-ROX at customs. My package sat at the Fed-ex bonded warehouse for a week before I got word that they had denied entry… what the hell!? The “old” formula was allowed, what’s the problem? ignorence?
I think so.