• csolisr@hub.azkware.net
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    17 days ago

    The only enhancement he used (but everyone else on the pool was using it too) was a swimming suit so efficient, that it got eventually banned by the IOC for being deemed an unfair advantage. Also, most of the “enhanced” competitors were just returning from retirement, there’s only so much you can compensate with steroids.

    • csolisr@hub.azkware.net
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      17 days ago

      Oh, and furthermore: jacking up a la Broly is actually a terrible idea for swimming specifically, because the extra bulging muscle is actually inefficient for hydrodynamic drag.

        • csolisr@hub.azkware.net
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          17 days ago

          Yes, generally, but at a certain point, the amount of energy gained from sheer muscle is unfortunately negated by the amount of drag from the muscle’s additional volume. That’s why most swimmers are relatively lean, with good core muscles.

            • csolisr@hub.azkware.net
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              17 days ago

              Yeah, an energy boosting substance should be more apt for quick sprints. Again, as I mentioned above, most of the “enhanced” athletes are coming back from retirement - giving 120% from a degraded muscle can (and here, did) give less of a payback than giving 100% from a muscle in its prime.

              • SamuraiBeandog@lemmy.world
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                17 days ago

                Yeah, an energy boosting substance should be more apt for quick sprints.

                The opposite I think, meth doesn’t magically make you stronger or faster (it just feels like it does) but it keeps you going for longer.

                • NannerBanner@literature.cafe
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                  17 days ago

                  but it keeps you going for longer.

                  Specifically, mentally going. The majority of olympic level athletes are not ‘flagging’ due to not being able to keep their mental focus while pushing through pain/fatigue, it’s due to actual physiological reasons as your energy stores deplete and muscles suffer damage.

      • SamuraiBeandog@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        I read an article a little while ago about one of the swimmers who was training for these games and it talked about exactly this, how the changes to his body shape and composition were bigger drawbacks than the added strength from the enhancements.

        If this event ends up going for a while and has enough interest I would expect people to figure out an optimal way to dope to find the balance.

        • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          The advancements will be to the suit. It will become more like speed submarining than swimming.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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          16 days ago

          Steroids that make you bigger are the main public understanding of PEDs, but there are plenty of other types that increase stamina or speed recovery from individual races. 10% more blood flow would be huge for a long swimming event than more muscle mass.

      • nomecks@lemmy.wtf
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        17 days ago

        That’s just them taking the wrong performance enhancing drugs. I would imagine that something that would lead to huge swelling of the hands and feet might be good for increasing how much water they can push against.

        • optimisticturtle@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          something that would lead to huge swelling of the hands and feet might be good for increasing how much water they can push against.

          HGH does that.

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      i would have thought there’s be like a blood oxygen thingy. or blood something else re- like… what’s it called. sorry, can’t remember the word. too much weed. 4:, uh, 4:57 if you want to be precise 4:20 was a bit ago. when you give platelets. they take the blood out and pull out the platelets, put the blood back in. i’d think there’d be something you could do with iv bullshit, something more intense with APHERESIS HAHA THATS THE WORD. i think that’s the word.

      juice up right before the meet so you can voom. not even with anything that illegal, just with, idunno, making sure your electrolytes are the right balance.

  • RandomStickman@fedia.io
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    17 days ago

    I first read it as “enchanted” and for a fleeting moment I was in a world of magical swimmers until I read further and realised what it actually was. It was just like when I first came across “fantasy football” and thought it was about orcs and wizards playing American football.

    We need a Blood Bowl of swimming.

      • RandomStickman@fedia.io
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        17 days ago

        I was thinking of magic speed boosts and magical hindrance to your opponents in a swim race but if there’s a board game version of water polo you can clock people in the head and cast magic I’ll take that too lol

        • NannerBanner@literature.cafe
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          17 days ago

          I have friends who specifically sharpened their toenails for water polo. While I liked watching the swimmers in their tights, knowing they would happily drown each other in blood drawing contests beneath the water was a mild turn off.

          • DagwoodIII@piefed.social
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            16 days ago

            Earlier this morning I heard someone say something that made me think that maybe I should have participated in competitive sports when I was younger.

            Then I read your comment and realize that I was right to avoid that particular insanity.

            • NannerBanner@literature.cafe
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              16 days ago

              You have to find the right group. There’s a fine line between competitive and ‘need to win’ drive. I can think of at least four large groups in my life that have broken apart specifically because there were some people in them that suddenly thought they could ‘dominate’ and everything shifted (in their view) to make that happen. Suddenly they don’t want to play with certain people, they get mad about partners who didn’t ‘play as well as they should have,’ etc. The fun disappeared and they dragged everyone else down with them.

              I’d say the goal should be to have fun, and if you can’t goof off in the middle of a game/match/whatever, you’re too deep into the ‘need to win’ mindset.

              • DagwoodIII@piefed.social
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                16 days ago

                You’re not going to find a lot of high school level sports teams that aren’t big on winning.

                These days, I go to the gym where everyone is welcome and we all try to encourage each other.

  • Drun@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Let’s not forget the fact that ones who actually used drugs will be banned from any other competitions for many months or even years.

    So, these other athletes are likely not in the “top tier”. It would be good to hear opinion from someone experienced to tell if it’s true.

    • Robust Mirror@aussie.zone
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      17 days ago

      It’s mostly true. The biggest name from what I’ve looked into is Ben Proud. He won silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 50m freestyle. But you are largely correct it is majority no names.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      I am surprised there aren’t some swimmers competing that smoke weed on their off times, but don’t use PED in general.

    • COASTER1921@lemmy.ml
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      16 days ago

      Also swimsuit based. Although he wasn’t using any PEDs he was (mostly) using a type of swimsuit which is not allowed in more traditional competitions.

    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      Was going to say, steroids wouldn’t even help much here, other than speeding up healing from the injuries you get because you’re swimming juiced.

  • Nautalax@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Let’s be real, the regular Olympics are already doped. Their entire careers are on the line with the pride (and eyes) of the nation bearing down on them and demanding results… and we think they and their teams aren’t taking every edge they think they can possibly get away with? All the time famous athletes of yesteryear are being revealed to have been up to shenanigans when science catches up to retest their samples more effectively or some investigation gets a co-conspirator to spill the beans.

    There’s microdosing below what tests can detect, novel designer drugs that can’t yet be detected, therapeutic use exemptions for drugs that would normally be banned, setting up situations to evade tests unless you are prepared to take them, tampering with the sample, good old fashioned corruption… probably tons of things that would never occur to me but that would to highly motivated teams with vast amounts of money on the line.

    • Taleya@aussie.zone
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      16 days ago

      You just demonstrated why Hunter won.

      Your comment indicates its all drugsdrugs drugs. Nope. It’s years of training and dedication, sacrifice and absolute laser guided focus.

      You cant dope your way to a skillset and discipline you don’t have.

      • Nautalax@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        I explicitly said they are searching for EVERY edge they think they can get. That includes insane hard work and practice. The hard-training Olympian who is doped will easily crush someone who is doped but just sitting around eating bon bons. Actually many agents people dope with are used because they allow people to train harder for longer and recover more quickly which is invaluable as an athlete. Saying that many athletes are doping is saying many don’t have integrity, not that they don’t work hard - that couldn’t be further from the truth at the Olympic level.

      • Leviathan@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Exactly, there’s tons of dudes who hop on gear and think it’s instantly gonna solve all their problems. However, they never optimized their training or reached their natural potential in the first place. They either end up spinning their wheels, burning out and growing man boobs or gaining a little and thinking they’re Superman (and probably growing man boobs too).

        • Taleya@aussie.zone
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          15 days ago

          You actually see it spread even broader - people thinking they can cheese the hard grind. If i get this equipment i can run longer / ride faster / play better and now we’re at the point where people think feeding gibberish into a plageurism machine means they can now Art without effort.

          Nope. Stuff can help and it can elevate, sure…but there’s gotta be the skill underneath. And you need to work for that.

    • terranoid@lemmy.cafe
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      17 days ago

      …this isn’t a weird green text meme?

      Holy fuck, the Enhanced Games are real? And looking into it, it’s backed by Donald Trump Jr and Peter Thiel.

      Holy fuck actual dystopian future

      • BlueFootedPetey@sh.itjust.works
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        17 days ago

        Iv always wanted to watch something like this, but yea knowing who back it, fuck it. Kinda curious how some of the other sports worked out in relation to the non doping counterparts.

        • chocrates@piefed.world
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          17 days ago

          Right? People dope in all sports, I’m fine with people being allowed to do it openly. I’m sure since it’s Thiel and Trump it’s awful somehow though

          • BlueFootedPetey@sh.itjust.works
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            17 days ago

            I kinda get most sports and comps not allowing doping, arguments for and against.

            But yea, all the doping, bionics and shit, lets just see what we could do. For funsies.

            • dustyData@lemmy.world
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              17 days ago

              The problem is that with the potential damage to the body and their career this is exactly what happens. Only the retired or mid performers are willing to actually take on the experiment. Top athletes already use some forms of doping but are very protective, since they have more to lose. Only those with nothing to lose will go all in on the enhancements.

              • BlueFootedPetey@sh.itjust.works
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                16 days ago

                That sounds about right. Still, seems neat. Swimming obvs is a little different, but id love to see Roids McDaniels race against Methy McStevens and maybe Gout Gout (guy who broke Bolts record).

            • chocrates@piefed.world
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              17 days ago

              I get the reasons for not doing it, but it seems clear that a lot of people are still doing it. Testing is always lagging the new methods of getting around it.

              I’m curious if, with the world going crazy for LLM’s, we will see it used to make novel compositions of existing chemicals that constantly outpace the labs tasked with finding the doping.

      • optimisticturtle@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Thiel in addition to being pro-surveillance state is also transhumanism. He was interested in Clavicular of the looksmaxxing community for similar reasons.

  • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    The athletes that openly take drugs to compete in these games will be banned from all other contests, so anyone who is already competitive isn’t going to take part.

    A top-tier athlete without PEDs is gonna outperform lesser athletes who use them.

  • nexguy@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    He was just doped up on exercise and high on life. Gonna need an asterisk next to that win.

  • ZpbkPEcaHhIveqdR@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    I don’t know athletes names, and please don’t think I am trying to criticise him, but If he is competing in the enhanced games then there would be presumably no testing for enhancing drugs, so we only really have his word that he doesn’t use enhancing drugs which may not be the same as actually not using enhancing drugs

    • Robust Mirror@aussie.zone
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      17 days ago

      They still test because the whole framework relies on verified categories, but I’ll admit the optics are hilarious.

      • howrar@lemmy.ca
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        17 days ago

        I heard (source may not be reliable) that one of the goals of this project is to better understand the effects of various drugs on people, so they would still need to know what everyone’s taking.