Recently Anna Mazurenko has been nominated the head of the anti- doping committee of the International Armsport Federation for Persons with Physical Disabilities (IAFPPD). Congratulations Anna! Anna declared that she will share knowledge on controlled substances with fighters. She’s planning to create a detailed guide, which will answer all questions about preparation process before tournaments, what to know and what to beware of, when we get sick and have to take medicine.

She will have a lot of work, and I will have my say in it too, be it about fighters with physical disabilities or regular ones.

Our sport is built on friendship, common passion and cooperation of many people. There is no big money in it. The biggest value in Armwrestling (capital letter intended) is that there is no distance between fighters, referees or activists. People in high places are often our friends, colleagues. That;s why one should not betray them by using illegal substances!

We should play fair. Imagine what would happen, if during the famous Oxford – Cambridge rowing regatta, it was found that one boat was using an engine… No one would shake a crook’s hand.

And it’s not really worth it to ruin your health just for a medal!

Let’s focus on health issues for a moment. Juice is bad for your health, no doubt about that! Arguments like “I just take a little”, “it’s not THAT bad”, etc, are all bulls**t. But how do we make young people believe that drugs really are bad? Texts? How much can one write about that? Personal stories, like amongst the Alcoholics Anonymous? “I, Peter, took steroids and had ‘roid rages, it could have ended really bad”? – does that really convince you?

Now let’s take a step further. 90 % of what’s on the market is a sham! It’s not what it says on the label. The best case scenario – it’s a placebo. Worst case – it may contain actual poison! Have I convinced you? Please reply!

Now, another thing – the legal side of it. Most of what’s available on the market is illegally manufactured, or it’s a counterfeit. The buyer is an accessory to the crime. Of course, penalties are not high, but it’s still a stain on your reputation. Is it worth it?

It’s a similar case with legally bought substances, because we buy something that we don’t really need, with a prescription given to us without actual reason.

Penalties are also small, but …

Another argument – juicing ruins the actual training regimen! In a normal, “clean” training cycle we can deduce future progress based on past experience, and plan our weight scheme accordingly. When we use juice, everything goes to hell in a hand basket, we know jack sh**t about our real progress.

And on top of that, each treatment has to be stronger than the previous, because our bodies adapt quickly and need more.

How do we fight it?

First of all, you need to be a bit of an idealist! Carry the torch, against all odds! Act even against a certain “silent agreement” that exist in strength sports, according to officials of the Polish anti-doping committee.

Anti-drug tests are necessary. There should be more of them, and more often. They are relatively expensive, but that cannot be helped for now.

However! In my opinion, first-offence penalties for using doping should be much lower. Like disqualification for a few months. A sort of warning. Second-offence punishment should be worse, but also only a little worse – a year, let’s say. Only the “third strike” should result in a few years suspension. Why? Many young athletes trust their coaches blindly, and they get deceived. A “coach” says that if you stop juicing a month before a competition, you will now be caught. But then you are. So a few months of penalty should scare a guy like that straight, in my opinion.

Another thing. Go to the great prawosportowe.pl website, and read on procedures that should be applied in federations when acting against a contestant. They should have full right to defend themselves!

But let’s not get fooled either! No legal supplements can contain illegal substances! These are just old wives’ tales. I spoke to many manufacturers about that. On top of that, if we use official Olympic supplements, that’s a further guarantee, because Olympians get tested very often.

Another thing – testing procedures themselves should be more lenient. Sportsmen should not feel like they are under arrest when taken for testing. Especially for someone who’s just won a medal! Tests should be run BEFORE competitions, and results should be publicized before the games begin. I know it’s difficult, but it’s the right thing to do.

Let me finish with telling you what’s stopped me from juicing when I was young. It was the fear of going bald.

And that’s the kind of work that Ania’s facing right now. To share serious knowledge with sportsmen!

*I based the whole article only in Polish realities.

Regards, PeSzy