Just when the Sports Authority of India (SAI, the government arm administrating sports), and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as well as the IWLF breathed a sigh of relief at having dodged a bullet, the news came forth that the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) of India had found four members of the Commonwealth Games Wrestling Team had tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine.  The drug, found in nasal decongestants and food supplements, had been placed on the banned list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) this year.  All four athletes were replaced on the Commonwealth Games team.  This announcement was made on September 2, 2010.

On Sunday, September 5, NADA reported that three Commonwealth Games athletes, two swimmers and a shot putter, had failed the B sample testing for methylhexaneamine.  They were replaced on the Indian team.

Today, September 8, NADA notified the IWLF that Commonwealth Games weightlifter Sanamacha Chanu had also failed the B sample for the same drug, methylhexaneamine.  Chanu, the 2002 Commonwealth Games champion had previously failed a test for diuretics at the 2004 Olympics and was given a two year suspension from competition.  This second doping positive could lead to a life suspension.  Chanu will be replaced on the Indian team.

That the SAI is aware of the doping problem is obvious, otherwise they would not have created NADA.   It is equally obvious that the doping problem is widespread in Indian sport.  No nation has yet to be suspended from all sports in the International Olympic Committee’s roster of sports.  These latest incidents may lead to a showdown in which WADA and the IOC will have to impose some sanctions against the SAI and the IOA.

With the exception of the isolated incidents of doping positives on the part of the Greek and Bulgarian weightlifting teams in 2008, there have been no situations in recent years of the appearance of institutional doping on the part of any  National Olympic Committee.  This could turn out to be a watershed moment in the anti-doping movement.

Rest

Day 2—Tuesday, 7 September

1)Snatch: 60%/1, 70%/1, 80%/1, (85%/1, 90%/1, 95%/1)3                                          12:12

2)Clean & Jerk: 60%/1+1, 70%/1+1, 80%/1+1, (85%/1+1, 90%/1+1, 95%/1+1)3 24:36

3)Front Squat: 60%/1, 70%/1, 80%/1, (85%/1, 90%/1, 95%/1)3                                12:48

4)Snatch Extension: (95%/3)4                                                                                                12:60

5)Press: (X/4)4                                                                                                                             16:76:76

Day 3—Wednesday, 8 September

1)Snatch: 60%/2, 70%/2, 80%/2, (85%/2)2                                                                        10:10

2)Clean & Jerk: 60%/2+1, 70%/2+1, 80%/2+1, 85%/2+1                                              12:22

3)Clean Extension: (90%/3)4                                                                                                  12:34

4)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3, (85%/3)2                                                                15:49:125

Abdominals: (X/20)4

Day 4—Thursday, 9 September

1)Power Snatch: 60%/1, (65%/1, 70%/1, 75%/1)3                                                          10:10

2)Power Clean & Jerk: 60%/1+1, (65%/1+1, 70%/1+1, 75%/1+1)3                          20:30

3)Push Press: 60%/3, 65%/3, (70%/2)3                                                                               12:42

4)Good Morning: (X/4)4                                                                                                           16:48:173

Day 5—Friday, 10 September

1)Snatch: Same as Monday                                                                                                     12:12

2)Clean & Jerk: Same as Monday                                                                                         24:36

3)Front Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3, 85%/3, (90%/1)3                                               15:51

4)Press: (X/3)4                                                                                                                             12:63:236

The Club program is one that has been put together out of a need for more advanced training in volleyball skills.  It is the by-product of Title IX which has mandated that women’s athletic scholarships be awarded in the same proportion as the women’s enrollment at any given university.  Hence if women compose 52% of the student body, then 52% of the athletic scholarships go to women.  The last time I checked there were 7400 scholarships available to female volleyball players each year in the United States.

The parents with an eye on these scholarships have had a hand in the formation of the club program where the coaches are employed solely for their expertise in teaching the game to high school girls.  The club coaches do not have to have teaching credentials as high school coaches do, and the practice and competition schedule allow them to have day jobs or go to school as the sessions are set up to accommodate the work schedules of the parents and the school attendance of the girls.

At one point, being a club player was enough of an advantage over non-club players in getting a foothold toward the scholarship.  The field has been leveled, as the vast majority of scholarship athletes are coming out of the clubs.  College coaches don’t even bother going to high school games, when they can go to gigantic club tournaments and scout dozens of great players in a single weekend.

Well many of the club players and their parents are now looking for an edge beyond club, and so many of them are going to specialized coaching sessions and camps, sports psychologists, nutritionists and yes, even to strength and conditioning coaches like myself.

In the aforementioned group that I was coaching at Team Crossfit, two of the seniors are now in college on volleyball scholarships.  The rest will be high school students this coming school year, anxious to improve their performance and chances at a scholarship.

I think that most of the girls would have preferred to play club year ’round, and to continue to do strength and conditioning work as they’re convinced that it enhances their game by a considerable margin.

Unfortunately the high school season with its long and inconveniently scheduled practices, recalcitrant coaches and weeknight games intrudes.  My athletes will take time off from strength and conditioning to participate in the high school game.  Some of them will do it because it’s cool.  Some feel obligated to support their school athletic program.

I’m seeing more of this going on each year.  It looks to me as though the top players will just participate in the club programs, and the high schools will feature a second tier product.

Just the view from beneath my coach’s cap.

It was January of 1967, my sophomore year in college.  I had trained for this meet on my own in the Occidental College weight room.  That’s why I was a split lifter.  I just couldn’t figure out how to perform the squat lifts, and so I became a splitter.  I didn’t have weightlifting shoes, mainly because you couldn’t buy any in those days.  I wore canvas sneakers.  I had one of those York Barbell lifting suits.

I had seen a number of meets and so I was pretty familiar with the progress of the barbell on the platform.  I’d also read the rule book so I was familiar with the weigh-in procedure.

I showed up at the Y and went into the weigh-in area in the locker room.  I met Bob Hise, II there and he and John Scott, one of the local officials, weighed me in.  I was relieved to find out that I was over a pound under the 67.5 kg. limit.

There were only about a dozen lifters there so it wasn’t exactly a mob scene.  I called for 145 lbs. for my first press attempt.  I power cleaned the weight, got set and waited for the head referee’s signal.  He clapped, and I began to press and missed it forward!  Some start to my weightlifting career!

I knew enough to re-take the weight, even though I had planned on pressing 155 for my second and a PR 160 for the third.  I missed the 145 again and I was really in a panic, not quite knowing how to get my wits together to make one good press.  I called for the pesky 145 again, power cleaned it and pressed it to get three thumbs up and I was overjoyed to get my first official lift in the books!

I took the same 145 for my first snatch and split snatched it as well as I could.  The second with 155 was equally as good, but my third with 160 was simply too heavy.

My first clean and jerk was 190 lbs.,and it was lifted easily.  The second attempt with 200 was equally as good.  I missed the third with 205.  I finished third and was happy to have registered a total.  I’d snatched over bodyweight and cleaned and jerked 200 which I thought was a pretty good number for my first meet.

Third place, a 500 lb. total and I was addicted!  That was the first meet, the first step!

1)Snatch: 60%/2, 70%/2, 80%/2, 85%/2, 90%/1, 80%/2, 85%/2                                 13:13

2)Clean & Jerk: 60%/2+1, 70%/2+1, 80%/2+1, 85%/2+1, 90%/1+1, 80%/2+1, 85%/2+1       20:33

3)Snatch Extension: (95%/3)5                                                                                                15:48

4)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3, (85%/3)3                                                                18:66

5)Press: (X/4)4                                                                                                                             16:82:82

Abdominals: (X/25)3

Day 2—Tuesday, 31 August

1)Power Snatch: 60%3, 65%/3, 70%/3, 75%/1, 65%/3, 70%/3                                   16:16

2)Power Clean & Jerk: 60%/3+1, 65%/3+1, 70%/3+1, 75%/1+1, 65%/3+1, 70%/3+1             22:38

3)Clean Extension: (90%/3)4                                                                                                  15:53

4)Back Squat: 60%2, 70%/2, 80%/2, 85%/2, 90%/1                                                        09:62:144

Abdominals: (X/20)4

Day 3—Wednesday, 1 September

Rest

Day 4—Thursday, 2 September

1)Snatch: 60%/1, 70%/1, 80%/1, 85%/1, 90%/1, (80%/3)3                                          14:14

2)Clean & Jerk: 60%/1+1, 70%/1+1, 80%/1+1, 85%/1+1, 90%/1+1, (80%/3+1)3 22:36

3)Romanian Deadlift: (85%/4)4                                                                                             16:52:196

Abdominals: (X/25)4

Day 5—Friday, 3 September

1)Power Snatch: 60%/4, 65%/4, (70%/4)3                                                                         20:20

2)Power Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 65%/4+1, (70%/4+1)3                                              25:45

3)Front Squat & Jerk: 70%/2+2, (80%/2+2)4                                                                    20:65

4)Front Squat: (85%/3)4                                                                                                           12:77

5)Press: (X/4)4                                                                                                                             16:93:299

The hefty fine was first imposed upon the Indians earlier this year after six Indian lifters were found positive for performance enhancing drugs (PED)  during a three month span last summer.  India has already served two two-year suspensions since 2003, and the latest positives provided the international federation with an argument for imposing a life suspension against India.

With the very prestigious Commonwealth Games being hosted by the Indians this year, the IWLF made a bargain with the IWF to pay off the fine in installments with the first coming due this past spring.  The IWLF paid $125,000 and expected to have the rest financed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The IOA fearing that assisting the IWLF could provide a conflict with it’s own National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), was not anxious to loan the money.  An inquiry to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) resulted in an adevisement that loaning the money would amount to an abetting of anti-doping violators and hence would be in conflict with NADA.  The IOA refused to loan the money.

This put the Indians in the embarassing position to be the first nation to host a major multi-sport event from which some of its own athletes would be forbidden to compete.

At the last minute, the Union Sports Ministry implored the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee to loan the IWLF the $375,000 to retain eligibility for its athletes.

The Organizing Committee agreed to provide the interest-free loan on August 26, 2010.

Indian weightlifters will be eligible to compete.  Their participation in the World’s Championships will also aid in India securing quota places for the 2012 Olympics in London.

I also included the classification tables currently in use by the Russian federation (courtesy of Bud Charniga).  Just about all of the lifters I currently coach like the idea of gaining some perspective of how they were doing in comparison to the top levels.

What I didn’t expect was the reinforcing feedback from a number of veteran coaches and supporters for the use of the class system.

Former national champion and Olympian Tom Stock provided support for the class system as he feels it brings more individualization to the training of athletes.  Long time coach Mike Controy even went so far as to provide some info from the old coaching manuals and an enthusiastic voice for the system.  Former Olympic Coach Harvey Newton provided me with a history of the rise and fall of the system in this country.  Dr. Mike Stone, longtime sport scientist and former NSCA president, was staunchly in favor of re-implementation.  And finally Takano Athletics Advisory board member and head of USA Weightlifting’s Medical Committee Dr. Brendan Murray felt the re-implementation of the class system would be of great benefit for the sport.

I am going to delve into this project with some assistance from Mike Conroy.  I would like to put together a series of articles that will be posted to the web site and provide some more prospective for the American weightlifting community.

Any readers with thoughts or input should provide commentary here or shoot me an e-mail at info@takanoathletics.com.

1)Snatch: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)4                                                             24:24

2)Clean & Jerk: 60%/4+1, 70%/4+1, (80%/4+1)3                                       25:49

3)Behind the Neck Power Jerk: 60%/3, (70%/3)3                                       12:61

4)Snatch Extension: (80%/4, 90%/3)4                                                         28:89

5)Clean Deadlift with 2 halts: (85%/3)4                                                     12:101

6)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3, 85%/2                                              11:112:112

Vertical Jump (X/3)4

Day 2–Tuesday, 24 August

1)Back Squat.: 60%/4, 70%/4, (80%/4)4                                                     24:24

2)Power Snatch & Overhead Squat: 60%4+3, 65%/3+3, (70%/3+3)2        25:49

3)Power Clean & Power Jerk: 60%/3+3, 65%/3+2, (70%/3+2)2                 21:70

4)Clean High Pull: 80%/3, 85%/3, (90%/2)4                                               14:84:196

Abdominals: (X/25)3

Day 3–Wednesday, 25 August

1)Snatch 60%/2, 70%/2, (80%/2)4                                                              12:12

2)Clean & Jerk: 60%/2+2, 70%/2+2, (80%/2+1)3                                       17:29

3)Power Clean & Push Press: 60%/1+3, 65%/1+3, (70%/1+3)3                 20:49

4)Good Morning.:(X/8)4                                                                             32:81:277

Day 4–Thursday, 26 August

1)Back Squat: 60%/3, 70%/3, 80%/3, 85%/2, (75%/3)3                             20:20

2)Snatch  Extension & Snatch: 60%/3+1, 70%/3+1, (80%/3+1)3                20:40

3)Clean & Front Squat & Jerk: 60%/1+3+1, 70%/1+3+1, (75%/1+3+1)3    25:65

Vertical Jump: (X/4)4

4)Snatch Deadlift : (100%/4)4                                                                    16:81

5)Press: (X/5)4                                                                                            20:101:378

Abdominals: (X/25)4

Day 5–Friday, 27 August

1)Power Snatch & Push  Press: 60%/3+3, 65%/3+3, (70%/2+3)3               22:22

2)Power Clean: 60%/4, 65%/4, (70%/3)3                                                   17:39

3)Clean Extension: (80%/5)5                                                                      25:64

4)Front Squat 60%/3, 70%/3, (80%/3)2                                                      12:76:454

Abdominals: (X/20)4