Broken Oars, Episode 15, Culture, Doping and TUE's PED's in Rowing with Dr. Phil Hurst. - a podcast by brokenoarspodcast

Broken Oars Podcast returns with what might be called 'The Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Rowing Culture' Episode - if we went in for such things as informative titles.

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Following a recent positive test being returned in British Rowing, rather than risk us talking about spaniels (again), we enlisted the help of an expert in the field, the exceedingly knowledgeable Dr. Phil Hurst. 

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Phil is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, at the School of Psychology and Life Sciences at Canterbury Christ Church University. An early-career interdisciplinary researcher with specialism in placebo effects on sports performance and psychosocial antecedents of anti-doping behaviours, between 2017 and 2018, Philip worked as a research associate at the University of Birmingham where he undertook two projects commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and International Olympic Committee. 

 

Highlights of his research include looking at the effects, or otherwise, of legal performance enhancing substances, the placebo effect, and the reasons why individuals might be more or less likely to use PEDs in competition.

 

He's also a Northerner, which is a bonus in anyone's book.

 

(This might explain why Lewin (the Southern one) conducted this interview alone: scared of being outnumbered by two articulate Northerner, he slipped AJ the wrong log-in time ... )

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Neverthless, flying solo the fast lad had a wide-ranging and informative chat with Dr. Hurst, covering:

 

- The psycho-social reasons why people turn to PEDs.

 

- Why athletes and organisations use the TUE mandate to push the line on where clean sport ends and doping begins.

 

- Why some sports have a history and culture of doping; and why sport as part of the entertainment industry may be feeding it; with the impact of living in an increasingly image-conscious world playing into the use of PEDs.

 

- Why performance-enhancing drugs don't necessarily work, but the placebo effect they provide does - and how to recreate that by cultivating positive mindsets and pre-performance rituals to replace the mental boost PED's offer some athletes.

 

- Why rowing globally is no better or worse than other sports, but how and why British Rowing's culture and history of hard work = results have helped protect the sport.

 

- Phil highlights Redgrave and Pinsent's 'we work hard' approach as one that not only aligns with Olympic values, but which carried and flagged the credibility and integrity of British Rowing to the wider world of sport.

 

- Noting the importance of cultural narratives in defining whether athletes and various sports use or don't use PED's, Phil suggests that the perpetuation of the narrative 'we succeed by hard work' from the top-down and the bottom-up has had a preventative effect that has kept British Rowing cleaner than its peers, warning that Robert Strachan's recent positive test means we can't rest on our laurels.

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This episode is a must for anyone in rowing and sport concerned with protecting clean athletes and clean sport, and provides real insight into the whys, more than the hows and whats, of illegitimate performance enhancement in sport.

 

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Bowside holding ... Strokeside's chocolate croissants until UKAD gets back to us about whether or not they're on the banned list.

 

Almond croissants? Rowing on ...

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