the ex rider from Banesto (that you can see behind Lance in one of the 2000 Trek Tour de France posters) died last night of a heart attack at 32.
He quitted cycling for nervous breakdown and was treated in a hospital, where he died…
sad.
Ça m’a donné des frissons… Il avait seulement 32 ans; moi j’ai 34. Ça me ferait très nerveux si j’était pro…
Est-ce qu’on peut mourir d’une dépression nerveuse, ou peut-être c’est une question de dopage?
32 ans, ça c’est horrible.
À 32 ans… Malheureusement je crois qu’à ce niveau là, le dopage est toujours très rependu, et qu’il est impossible de compétitioner sans un ‘supplément’ (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2003/nov03/nov22news)
he was treated for a nervous breakdown but died of a heart attack…
I guess you can die of a NB (maybe if it goes so bad that you kill yourself)…
in any case, it’s hard not to think that it can be
doping related…
On a related topic, I believe the short life span of professional cyclists in decades past has been well documented. I can’t remember if anything was specifically concluded to be the cause of this but obviously this could be directly caused by the cocktail of drugs that many of these cyclists may have been using.
However, drugs aside, does anybody know if the amount of stress that training for and competing in long stage races could also be a major contributor to heart or other health problems later in life? Obviously, this is quite a pertinent question for a lot of Ironman triathletes, because even amateurs are usually doing huge amounts of training compared to amateurs in any other relatively “mainstream” sport that I’m aware of.
I’d be interested in people’s views on this or if there’s been any particular studies done on the effect of endurance sport on long-term health, particularly since the sort of training we do is considered crazy by the rest of the population.
Camel
I think that it is lifestyle and other factors involved in being a pro.
Generally, endurance athletes live long, healthy lives, but pros have to do a lot to stay competitive. One thing that Tinley points out in his book is just how misreable and short the majority of pro football players lives are after they retire. Between the years of steroids and physical abuse, then ensuing loss of fame when they quit, apparently many of them don’t live too long after retirement. Perhaps it is similar for cyclists.
As far a triathletes go, I do know some who push themselves so hard that they have to totally stop racing, training, everything, for extended periods.
For more insight, you might read Tinley’s book. It is quite slow at times, as it was written as a combination catharsis/thesis, and I had some trouble sympathizing with a guy who admittedly ‘lived the dream’, but it does contain some valuable insights into the experiences of former pro athletes that can be applied to transitional periods of anyone’s life.