American athletes have been subject to drug testing when competing in international competition for years, but have not been subject to it domestically on any but the smallest scale. That is about to change in the coming years for the Intermediate (15-16 years old) and Young Men/Woman (17-18) divisions.
Starting in 2008, all youth championship races are going to have in-person drug education for the kids so that they know what the process involves and why they should avoid performance enhancing drugs. The idea is to instill a lifelong habit of fairplay by teaching them at a younger age to compete ethically and in such a way as to avoid the health risks of doping.
Beginning in 2009, there will be in-competition drug testing at all of the youth competitions.
I think that this is a great move. I believe that the younger generations coming up are already better educated than the previous generation, and I think that all of the recent doping scandals are bringing to light the fact that even if you get away with something in the short term you still stand to lose everything you have accomplished if you are discovered in the long term. This initiative should further reinforce that trend, and any children that are caught doping will have more of an opportunity to clean up and still have a competitive career.
(More Info: USATF)
I agree, I think this is a good idea -- if we start young less people will be inclined to take performance enhancing drugs. Do you know if they are going to test for other drugs? My tiny little high school did drug testing thanks to a sponsorship by powerade.
I assume that they are, but I don’t know.
Natural good supplements can enhance the performance and wellness of us all.
Bonnie Stein at http://www.racewalker.com is a fitness guru, that has been featured on numerous TV programs including CNN, who introduced me to the benefits of “good” supplements. A healthy diet and exercise are the first steps to good health and improving your physical performance. But, we can’t eat enough of the right foods to get all the vitamins and minerals our bodies need for optimum performance. The wellness education page on docopolis.com is a valuable resource with links to independent research and government data from places like the NIH and The U.S. National Library of Medicine. Great information on what you need to perform at you maximum potential naturally.
Bill,
I have to disagree. While supplements might have a marginal effect in your diet, I’m a firm believer that a well balanced diet doesn’t require supplementation.
Most supplements that I have seen don’t do much for you other than to make your urine really expensive.
I just saw the comment about Bonnie Stein who I took racewalking lessons from at a running camp a few summers ago. She has national certifications in exercise physiology and fitness education and knows here stuff when it comes to fitness and diet. Anyway, Bonnie generally agrees that a proper diet is best, but there are simply a few things that people and athletes in particular need to do regarding supplementation.
Omega-3 is one. Most experts say that at least 1 gram a day is necessary and it is difficult to get that in a ‘normal’ diet. But It must be pharmaceutical grade or you are correct, without high bio-availability it is expensive urine. I know one physician that takes about 4 grams of pharmaceutical grade Omega-3 fish oil before his triathlons to reduce fatigue since among other things it is an anti-inflammatory.
By the way, the previous web site given for Bonnie Stein is not correct … it is http://www.acewalker.com