USATF’s head honcho misspeaks on masters drug-testing
Doug Logan
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In his latest blog entry, USATF CEO Doug Logan writes: “Youth and masters athletes also are subject to drug testing.” Wrong. USATF does not ask masters tracksters for a urine sample (unless they compete on the elite level, such as Jeff Hartwig or Allen Johnson). No drug-testing has ever been done at a USATF-sanctioned masters track meet. Such testing would bankrupt the local organizing committee and our own committee. (But masters road racers might be subject to testing. I haven’t a clue.) However, Doug’s blog introduces a great  new resource — which helps all athletes learn whether supplements they take contain banned ingredients. You have to be a USATF member to access this.
Here is Doug’s latest blog entry:
Navigating the labyrinth
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Regular readers of this blog are aware of the stance I have taken regarding the supplement industry and the dangers athletes face if they choose to ingest supplements, which are manufactured with almost no regulation or oversight. Americans sometimes put their health at risk by using them, while athletes put their eligibility at risk if they unknowingly test positive for a banned substance contained in the supplement.
USATF’s stance has always been — and still is — that the only way for athletes to be sure they don’t ingest tainted supplements is not to take them at all. Yet we also recognize that supplements, from multivitamins to creatine and more, are so ingrained into American culture and sports culture that expecting athletes to compete with only food as their energy source is a bit naive.
Short of physically looking over every athlete’s shoulder, 24-7, there is a limit to how much USATF can control athletes’ decisions about what they put into their bodies. What we can do is to give them as much information as possible to enable them to make good decisions.
So, rather than leaving our athletes and members to entirely fend for themselves as they try to navigate the confounding labyrinth that is the multi-zillion dollar industry of “legal” supplements, USA Track & Field has entered into a partnership with the National Center for Drug Free Sport to help give all our members access to resources that will help them understand a supplement before they put it into their bodies.
Through the end of this year (and perhaps beyond), any USA Track & Field member can use Drug Free Sport’s Resource Exchange Center as a tool to better understand the truth about supplements. Athletes, parents, coaches, officials and volunteers all can access the REC to help determine if a supplement contains any banned substances.
The REC is a service to provide accurate and confidential information about dietary supplements and dangerous or prohibited substances. It provides requested information and the status of ingredients of supplements with regard to U.S. Anti-Doping Policy.
How does it work? Let’s say an athlete on any level — youth, high school, professional, recreational, masters — has been struggling with fatigue, and a trainer suggest he take supplement X to get better nutrition. Before the athlete even buys the supplement, he can use the REC to get an answer, within 24 hours, as to whether that supplement contains banned substances.
In another scenario, a parent of a high-school athlete might be concerned about some of the products her daughter is buying at the local nutrition store. Learning more about those products through the REC is one way to put your mind at ease, as well as to open a conversation with your child about the possible risks of using supplements.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency already has a hotline that elite athletes can call to determine if a medication or specific substance is banned. The REC broadens this concept by enabling any USATF members — not just athletes in USADA’s drug-testing pool — to inquire about supplements, which can contain multiple substances, some labeled and some not. In addition, the REC and Drug-Free Sport will provide USATF members with information that is reported by athletes who take a supplement and have an adverse reaction to it.
Youth and masters athletes also are subject to drug testing, but just as important is the concept that, whether or not you are tested, training and competing clean is simply the right thing to do.
Again, I must emphasize that the only way athletes can truly know what they put in their bodies is by living and training supplement-free. But if an athlete does use supplements, or is considering using them, this new resource will help them make a more informed decision about the benefits and pitfalls of a given product.
The REC doesn’t provide legal advice, and neither Drug Free Sport nor USATF can be responsible if an unlabeled substance in a supplement causes a positive drug test. But, we can help our members negotiate this complex topic to the greatest extent possible.
For more information about how to use your USATF membership to access the Resource Exchange Center, visit http://www.usatf.org/about/legal/antidoping/rec.asp
And as always, train hard, train well, and train and compete clean.
20 Responses
One minor clarification….
While USATF does not test Masters athletes, we ARE tested at the World Championships.
This is a good idea but the biggest problem is contamination. Many of the ingredients come from overseas and US suppliers whose product and facilities are not tested and documented. There is no FDA oversight to be sure of the purity and quality of the product. It could be mixed with a banned substance and cause a positive.
The only confidence one can have is with a manufacturer such as Advocare who has an independent testing lab, http://www.informed-choice.org, test for 194 contaminates including all the USADA/WADA banned substances.
Some USATF elite athletes, the most highly tested athletes in the world, have been using Advocare products for years.
George
The biggest problem is the some people take steroids and HGH etc. on purpose. The only way to eliminate this is by testing.
Second problem is contamination. This might lead to positive tests at World Championship etc., but the major problem with these supplements is not that they contain substances that are banned in competitive sport. The major problem is that these products are frequently mixed from powders made in several countries made in questionable facilities. The quality of these products is not tested for human consumption and they easily might be contaminated with carcinogenic and mutagenic substances (I worked at the FDA for several years). Choose carefully what you eat or inject into your body.
So entries seem to be on the low end for Oshkosh with nationals just over a month away.
Is that correct?
(would have posted this on an Oshkosh blog entry but there isn’t one yet that’s current)
Logan is correct that youth and masters are SUBJECT TO drug testing. You point out that veterans are never actually tested for practical reasons, but the reasons may not all be strictly practical.
The basic problem is that some veterans genuinely need to take anabolic steroids, PED hormones, etc. under valid prescriptions for legitimate health reasons. WMA/USATF can simply consider such persons as no longer eligible to compete, or they can cook up a more nuanced response. So far the issue has been avoided by adopting the first approach combined with “don’t ask, don’t tell” implementation. This is probably a boat which should not be rocked.
Quick Silver
Hong Kong
Great to see you back on the scene, Mellow Johnny. Yes, from a historical basis, entries for Oshkosh are very, very bad at this point. Only thing we can hope for is that we might be repeating the Orono experience of 2007. There, the entries were absolutely horrendous for a long time, and then (in desperation?) the regular deadline was extended for about a week, as I recall.
The entries at Orono then exploded, giving us an acceptable total of 1100 or 1120. Maybe the same thing will happen with Oshkosh.
P.T.
Maybe people had their hearts set on competing at Clermont and just can’t motivate themselves to go to Oshkosh.
I continue to look at the entries, but they are god-awful, I have to be honest. There is even a chance that we will not reach 1,000. What would be the significance of that? If we get 999 or fewer, it would be the fourth time in the last nine nationals that we went “kerplunk.” The other recent meets with disastrous attendance were Baton Rouge (2001), Hawaii (2005), and Spokane (2008).
I say that 999 or fewer is a disaster when I look at the history of the nationals. In 1989, after two decades of trying, we finally broke the 1400 barrier (1450 at San Diego). Since then we have broken the 1400 barrier only two more times (1994 in Eugene and 2000 in Eugene). Yikes.
If we can’t even break 1000 at Oshkosh we are in deep trouble. And yet, for some reason I think we will break it easily, as many people have told me they are going to Wisconsin (Oshkosh). We shall see.
Peter,
The way things are looking for Oshkosh, in each age group everything will go to a final if things don’t pick and that would really be bad with everyone spending extra money on housing when it’s not needed, you talked about races going to finals in the past. Just a bad location to get to.
Yes, Anonymous, I did talk about having all finals (actually, I favor trials in the 100, with everything else going to a final. After all, we have no qualifying standards; why are we running all of these trials when we don’t know for many of the runners whether they are “finals quality”?)
But back to your point about extra money on housing. There are 8 men in the M60 800, with Tim Wigger and Stan Mathes two of the likely favorites. The trials for the 800 are on Thursday, but the final is not until Saturday. As things look now, both Tim and Stan (as well as everyone else in M60) will have to come to the track on Thursday to see whether they have a trial (presuming the final total will be about 12 or 13).
Why should they have to do this? In my scenario, they would both have gone through some sort of qualifying process that would place them in the seeded section of the final. Actually, Tim Wigger already went through that in my book (he ran very well at Landover). But my way didn’t win out, and so we will once again have entire fields arriving at the track on Thursday (after flying in on Wednesday), only to be told that they are not running until Saturday. Oh, well, that’s the way it is in masters.
ahhh what the heck…
this is my ‘Finland’ meet!
who cares about the number of entries? just go out run the finals, prelims or whatever and embrace the beauty of it all (sarcasm)
I’m going and haven’t signed up yet. I also have talked to many people who SAY they are going but haven’t registered yet. Just the rare opportunity to run against other people in the hurdles is worth it for me.
For those who are into medals, this is the year to go! But seriously, there is the World Championship in Finland , Seniors Games in San Francisco, the economic crisis, World Indoors coming up in Canada…who can do it all? It is a little bit of bad luck for Oshkosh. I am sure it is going to be a good meet even if we dont break 1000.
It’s been a common concern with Masters runners in a number of Western states, that meet turnouts have been significantly low this year. Blame some of it on the general economic malaise nationwide, but a surprising number of athletes have informed me that they are kind of “burnt out” and have been limiting their participation this year. Certainly we all have been affected by the economic downturn; both financially and emotionally. Some more than others. And as much as I like the city of Oshkosh, WI, it’s not an easy place to get to, especially for the West Coast contingent. Here’s to a 1,000+ turnout for the nationals and record setting performances. TC
Oshkosh is not exactly on the direct flight path from the east coast either. However it is not that expensive a flight and the dorm rooms are quite reasonable. But transportation to and from the airport is a problem. Car rentals are ridiculously expensive. It costs twice as much to rent a car for 4 days than for the dorm room. I need the car primarily for transportation to and from the airport – ridiculous – to have to spend so much for airport transportation.
The various airports are small and charge an arm and a leg for the smallest car. The meet is not providing any shuttle service back and forth – understandable as there are 3 airports that service the area. And given the number of athletes – probably cost prohibitive as well.
Probably I will end up renting a car and that adds considerably to the cost.
I suspect the low numbers are due to a number of reasons – some mentioned above – but also – Oshkosh is not exactly a vacation destination. But I truly appreciate the meet director and the LOC for riding to the rescue and offering to host the meet after the farce in Clermont, FL.
Had the meet stayed there – the numbers would have been truly terrible.
Hopefully next year in Sacramento the turnout will be good – a chance to preview the sight for the WMA meet in 2011.
Will we ever get back to Eugene in my lifetime?
I surely hope so.
Thanks for the warning about the rental cars, Mary — I had no idea. I seem to recall that the meet is running a shuttle from the Appleton airport to Oshkosh; I hope that is still on (or maybe I just dreamed about this).
I just took a look at the entries (noon on Sunday, June 7). The only word I can use to describe them is “frightening.” For example, we know that the Midwest has a large number of women who are very strong in the 5000 and 10,000 (on the roads). Furthermore, this is our national championship, and thus the meet should be flooded with fleet women from the East, West, and South. And yet, as of now we have 4 (as in four) women in the 5000 in W30, W35, W40, and W45 COMBINED. Yikes.
This is also a great opportunity for our younger men in the hurdles to show what they can do. As of now we have a total of 2 (as in TWO) men under 50 in the 110 hurdles. Wow.
The only saving grace (and it may indeed save us) is that many people told me yesterday that they are going to the meet but have not entered yet. This was at the Mid-Atlantics at Widener University (Chester, PA). As I recall, Oscar Peyton (M55) had the race of the day, going 23.53 in the 200, I believe. Now that is fast. Will try to corroborate that.
Deadline for regular entries is this Friday (June 12).
Milwaukee is the best airport to get cheap ground transportation to Oshkosh. See link for details on Lamers Bus. http://www.golamers.com/user_documents/lamers%20daily%20route%20service%20flyer%20112407%20erics.pdf. LOC should set up special schedule and link from USATF webpage.
George
I am flying into Madison and driving to Oshkosh (approx. 80 miles). I got a compact car from Alamo at the Madison airport for the very reasonable price of $19 a day plus tax, total of $24 a day.
Looks like entries are ever-so-slowly starting to pick up a bit. Not exploding by any means but starting to gather some steam as the June 12th deadline approaches.
Am I the only one who thinks that the lower fee deadline is too early?
I know this is a big meet and they want to get their ducks in a row but it’s 4 weeks out. Shelling out another $50 isn’t a great way to go so I wonder how many people take a chance on recovering from an injury in time or are healthy now but get injured competing between now at early July in preparation for the meet, etc. and then have to bag it.
Looking forward to it, nonetheless. Looks like a great facility and the LOC will do a great job i.m.o.
Good to hear from you, PT. Looking forward to seeing you in just over a month!
No, Mellow Johnny, you are not the only one who believes that having a deadline 4 weeks before the meet is a bit early. For more on this, consult the writings of Andrew Hecker of California; as I recall, he would be in favor of a post-entry meet. Indeed, it might be a good idea to try a post-entry meet just once to see how it would work (with the exception that people in the steeplechase and hurdles would have to enter at least 7 days early for obvious reasons).
As I said before, Mellow Johnny, you are still a young buck, but you are eager to learn everything about masters T&F. I am sure you have already learned that there are many things in masters T&F that could not be described as “athlete friendly,” with this very early deadline being one of them. Records is another area, as I am sure you know. To the consternation of people both inside and outside masters T&F, it is deemed acceptable to reject record performances even when no one believes the record did not occur.
For example, in the much-discussed case of John Hinton’s 4:20.18 at Cornell University last year (Hartshorne Mile), those in favor of denying his record never even suggested that he didn’t run 4:20.18, that the track was short, that he ran a lap short. Similarly, when Kay Glynn broke the world record in the pole vault last year at the Pacific Assoc. championships it was not even thought necessary to argue that she didn’t jump the height; we can still throw out her record.
As you go along through masters T&F, Mellow Johnny, you will no doubt find many other things that are not “athlete friendly.” For example, if you enter the 800 (which you will not) you have to come out 2 days early for your trials (held on Thursday, with final on Saturday). And yet at both Spokane (2008) and Orono (2007), the majority of scheduled trials in the 800 didn’t even take place. In other words, people were asked to come out 2 days early for nothing.
Just to show you how crazy this is, Mellow Johnny, at Orono in 2007 there were just 13 women in the W40 800, including superstar Alisa Harvey. The women could easily have run 8 on the back line and 5 in lanes 5-8, with the outside group cutting in at the top of the backstretch. Instead, they were told to come to the track on Thursday for a trial.
Needless to say, the race rolled to a final on Saturday (with a field of 9). This sort of craziness happens every year, Mellow Johnny, and it is very, very unfriendly to the athletes. But no one will stop it.
By the way, I just looked at the entries for Oshkosh. They are very, very poor, but I hold out the hope that people are holding out until the last minute (June 12) to enter.
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