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Over the weekend Canadian wakeboarder Aaron Rathy was stripped of his Pan-Am silver medal because he tested positive for a substance found in a fat-burner supplement that he bought at GNC.  What I would like to know is, what effect does this supplement have on his performance, as it is something commonly found in over the counter nasal spays and  other, basically useless stuff.  Let’s start with this, I get it; banned substance lists are put in place to protect the fair place and ethics of sport and to make this fair play as paramount as possible.  But give me a break, this goes beyond the usual “I didn’t know what I was taking” excuse and lands more properly in the “No one knew what he was taking” category.  A majority of the products containing the banned substance “methylhexaneamine” don’t even list it, and even if they do it’s not banned by every governing body.

This leads me to question the difference between a performance enhancer, and an “everyone takes this on a daily basis, and it pretty much does sweet ‘F’ all” pill.  I understand that Ben Johnson, Roger Clemens and a host of other athletes have taken things that change their bodies and give them an edge over the competition, but when you start banning stuff like fat-burners, and bismuth subsalicylate (pepto-bismol) it goes beyond reason and into excess when it comes to a level playing field.

Give your heads a shake doping agencies.  If you want to test someone for banned substances that are helping their team win, try urine testing EVERY Little League World Series Athlete, or those female discus tossers who throw a frisbee twice the length of a football field.

The only thing enhanced by Rathy’s “supplement” taking is his ability to pull chicks due to lack of gut.

Seriously though, what are all these agencies going to do when freeskiing and snowboarding hit the Olympics? …Wait, we’ll be fine.  Just do what Ross Rebagliati did and tell ‘em it was second hand.

-t