I read an article somewhere about the USST’s program of blood testing and it mentioned the Torino experience when two of our athletes tested too high for red blood cells at the beginning of the Games in 2006. Now apparently, the USST is monitoring the team and that’s surely a good thing. But I wonder if we shouldn’t be taking a more nationwide approach to this whole subject of red blood cells and try to educate more of our skiers, coaches and parents in the niceties of it. I’ve always felt we needed more sophistication in our approach to cross-country skiing and we could begin by testing all the skiers at our National Championships. Why doesn’t the USST start this program? This is just a suggestion. But it might also do something to level the playing field. I would hate to think that a lot of skiers were competing in our championships who would be ruled ineligible at the FIS level.
Blood scores
October 26th, 2007 by John Caldwell · 2 Comments
Tags: Opinion
2 responses so far ↓
1 Tim Kelley // Nov 1, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Zach, I get a chuckle out of the upper left corner of your home page. Seems like: “They can take the Vermonter out of Vermont, but they can’t take the 802 area code out of the Vermonter!”
Hey John, you make a valid point. If a nation wants to beat its chest about the need for drug testing, everyone should walk the talk. On a related issue, folks should openly discuss drug testing at the junior level too. In mainstream US sports there is the problem of high school kids taking performance enhancement drugs to get the results that will get them scholarships. If you think about it, in US xc skiing there is likely more financial incentive for a junior to cheat than a senior. If a US senior uses drugs to make an Oly or World Champs team the drive is usually ego. There will likely be no substantial financial gain for doing this. That’s not the case with juniors where scholarships valued at $100,000 or more can be on the line.
After making this statement, I will say that I have no idea how much it would cost per skier to implement such drug testing. If it was a large amount then only top finishers should be tested. If there was no cost to competitors or cost was reasonable then all should be tested so folks realize how the game is played on a level field.
2 John Caldwell // Nov 2, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Hey Tim,
That’s a better idea than mine, testing the juniors. I never thought of that. Just shows you’re smarter than I am.
My main concern is educating the skiers, coaches and parents and if we started testing the juniors for hemoglobin, what better way?
There are a host of related questions and since the USST is monitoring its athletes ( a good idea too) I wonder what they do if one of theirs tests too high before a major race like a tryout or National Championship? I’ll write Luke and ask.
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