The Great Sex Before Sport Debate
Some trainers say that having sex before a major sporting event can hinder an athlete's performance. But some medical experts say it can actually help.
With the Olympic gold the ultimate goal for all the competitors taking part in the 2004 Summer Games, one would expect the athletes to adhere to strict regimes of fitness and diet in the quest to be the champion in their selected discipline. Many coaches have even advocated 16 days of celibacy as part of the charges preparation for greatness, believing that sex before competition would hinder athletic performance on track or field.
But the 17,000 Olympic athletes are likely to be ecstatic to find out that having sex the evening before a major event may not be damaging but in fact may help propel them to greatness.
"The night before has no effect on strength or endurance or any of the physical abilities of the athletes," says physiology expert Dr Ian Shrirer, a former president of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine in an interview with BBC Sport. "A lot of people think it has to do with the psychological effects."
Shrirer believes that most elite athletes need to be aggressive to compete at the top levels of their sport, but there is such a thing as being too aggressive, and that's where sex can make a positive difference.
"Think about that - that's the guy on the football team, who's always getting penalties. Or the guy in soccer who's getting red carded. That's not good for performance," he says.
"It's never been studied, how sex affects the psychological attitude the next day. But if it were true that it decreases aggressiveness, then you might expect it to be detrimental for those who aren't aggressive enough, but beneficial for those who are too aggressive."
Israeli physician Alexander Olshanietzky believes sex before competing is particularly useful for female athletes while he thinks men could suffer from fatigue. "We believe that a woman gets better results in sports competition after orgasm," he said in 1996, before the Atlanta games. "Generally, it's true of high jumpers and runners. The more orgasms, the more chances of winning a medal.
"Coaches generally tell their athletes to abstain before competition. In the case of women, that's the wrong advice."
It has been a contentious issue between sportsmen and women for as long as human beings have indulged in competitive activities and there have been many famous comments on the subject.
Casey Stengel, a former manager of both the New York Yankees and New York Mets baseball teams, once observed: "Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in."
Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland soccer legend George Best added his wisdom the argument once his playing days were over, telling the British broadsheet The Observer: "I used to go missing a lot - Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss Germany…I certainly never found it had any effect on my performance. Maybe its best not to have sex the hour before, but the night before makes no odds."
However, Britain's former Olympic 100 meter sprinting champion Linford Christie once claimed that having sex the night before a race always made his legs feel like lead.
Whatever the view, it is unlikely that placing a large number of consenting -- and horny -- adults together for a long period with plenty of free time on their hands will not lead to certain amount of extra-curricular physical workouts.
The athlete's village at any Olympics can appear to be one big pick-up joint with so many buffed and beautiful singles housed together for just over two weeks with all that testosterone and estrogen pulsing between events.
After every Olympics, there are stories of how many condoms are distributed -- and used -- and these games in Athens will be no exception. In Athens, 130,000 condoms and 30,000 packets of lubricant are being made available to the athletes. In Sydney, athletes were given a stash of three condoms a day, but more were brought in when supplies ran low.
The games in Greece, with its hot and sweaty climate, stand a good chance of out-doing Sydney in more than just the sporting stakes.
Posted by Ron at August 13, 2004 02:38 PM