Are we killing or curing our Athletes?

Ok, an athlete is caught using illegal performance enhancing drugs and is banned for 2 years. His governing body has an official ruling that athletes who are found to have a positive drugs result from testing can return to athletics in 2 years and will not be permitted to qualify for or compete in Olympic Games.

The banned athlete returns to the sport after his ban and is aware that testing is going to be very stringent with him when he reappears on the circuit.

The media demonizes him and promoters bar him from attending further meets, even though his 2 year ban has expired.

This article is not in support or in any way condoning the use of chemical enhancements in sports – it is about overcoming the use of them and regaining what you never thought you could achieve without them and the mental state plus performance excellence you have to produce to do that.

Something which has not been explored nor commented on is what it has taken that athlete to return to the sport. Is that athlete not in fact an example to those who had thought about using performance enhancing drugs? Because he was caught, he is no longer using them and yet managed to exceed his performance when he was using them! Is this not a clear message that there are ways of producing performance without needing to use drugs?

In my line of work I deal with many people over a number problems including sport performance. I teach how to elicit your optimal performance state from a mental state base and the fact that your brain is in fact what produces the performance. and the body, if mechanically able, will then follow suit. That is an extremely basic description.

Now let's take a look at this.

If an athlete has had success but seems to be hitting a barrier when trying to take his performance to the next gold medal winning level, he has two choices at that time. He either looks at technique, form, mental state, mental blocks, barriers, natural ability OR he looks for a short cut.

Unfortunately, some people take the short cut and decide to use various forms of performance enhancement by way of chemical substances. If they continue to take them and increase results, it is difficult then for them to tell what their real capability is, where their true ability level really lies.

Most of the performance drugs available increase protein synthesis and recovery, aiding the rebuilding of muscle tissue more quickly and stronger each time that the athlete trains and breaks it down. There is only so far you can increase your performance based on purely a physical increase in power.

Where a lot of the increased performance lies is the continued learning of the rest of the body that it can perform at that level and build consistently on those new connections being built. As yet, there are not any drugs which can alter the chemical production in the brain NOR the new building of neurological connections with increased mechanical ability. This comes form a climbing self belief and confidence which also adds to the performance and the belief in the new found ability.

This is where I have a problem with the current situation.

When an athlete makes a comeback from a time when they did use drugs, they are in fact coming back from a major disadvantage.

Firstly, many don’t even attempt to compete again without chemical assistance as they do not believe they can reach the same level.

Secondly, if they do attempt it, they actually have no idea where their capability really lies so their confidence in what they can really achieve is seriously diminished.

The mental side of competing is critical. If your mind set has any negative beliefs about your goals or ability, you will never achieve them. If your performance has any blocks or limiting decisions about what you can attain in terms of results then you will never make it.

Athletes are sensitive to pressure, environment and any self doubt can be fatal to the long term winning ability.

For an athlete to come back and surpass their previous results, this time without the use of chemicals is not only to be applauded, but surely credit must be given that they even tried especially as at that point you don’t know if you will ever achieve what you have done before. Remember, for someone who was so publicly banned, putting themselves on the line not knowing if they will ever achieve the level they were at before is a real career maker or breaker. Knowing that if you don’t reach or exceed the same standard will mean public humiliation and that you will be judged as not being any good without the drugs, now that is pressure.

From work with so many athletes with varying conditions and problems, I have seen repeatedly the improvements athletes can make by changing their mental state to unlock their real potential and until more education about our mental-physical connection and real performance ability is provided, performance enhancing drugs will always seem like a good option to those who don’t believe they can make it without them and the elite tier will still be only people who have access to that information and coaching from people like myself.

So, before you criticize athletes like Dwain Chambers who come back after being banned, take a second to wonder what it has taken for him to return and where he has had to come from to make it back. Isn’t he sending out a clear message that he has learned from his mistakes and that, ultimately, you don't need the drugs?

We do not and should not condone drug use in sport, but until people can see what can realistically be done without them, how are those tempted to use them going to be able to see their alternatives and what can be truly achieved without them if we don’t have examples like Dwain Chambers?