In a discussion I recently had with an Olympian from the 2008 Beijing Games, we discussed the misconceptions behind the health of elite athletes.  Often times, Olympic athletes are viewed as the epitome of health and physical beauty.  Yet, my buddy contended that, in fact, the opposite is true.  Well with respect to health, not beauty.  All Olympians and elite athletes are hot, of course.    

But my friend broke his argument down, shirking the general concept of a pyramid image where the general population rests at the bottom with elite athletes standing proudly atop the apex.  Instead, he noted that one could chart the general health of a country's population in a bell curve.  At one end of the curve, you would find the extreme group of people who could care less about exercise, eating well, and their overall health.  The curve would climb and at the top you would find people who created a perfect balance for themselves with concern to nutrition, fitness, and everything else that allows for a healthy a lifestyle. 

At the other end of the extreme, one would actually find elite athletes - people who pushed themselves so hard that their bodies often break down at a young age and reduce their life expectancy and/or general quality of life.  On the outside, an elite athlete certainly looks every bit the part of what an imagined "Greek God" would look like; but their bodies are actually ravaged by the constant strain of being pushed to the limit.  And that's a hard, unfortunate part of what many athletes face in their pursuit of making an Olympic team or winning an Olympic medal; a fact that is rarely seen by the general public.

It is also an aspect we find all too common here at the Olympic Training Center.  I was recently reminded of this as Mama Sherry and I escorted elite triathlete Mark Fretta to a local medical clinic to receive an injection to help him recover from a sacra-iliac injury that has been inhibiting his ability to run, swim, bike...walk, sit, and basically function like your average human being. 

This wasn't your everyday flu shot where you close your eyes, take a deep breath and go about your day with a Snoopy Band-Aid and a cookie.  I'm talking about having a 15-inch needle shoved into your hip, and worked around until the doc finds the damaged areas and injects it with a legal steroid (all registered with USADA of course).  This takes about five to seven minutes - and you go home with a numb leg and Freddy Kruger nightmares instead of a cookie. 

And this is all done in the hopes of being able to not just compete, but to being able to get back to torturing yourself in practice.  As the doctor told Fretta on Tuesday, "By Saturday, you will be able to do some light pedaling." 

What Fretta heard wasn't "light pedaling," but rather "okay, you have the green light to try that time trial hill climb that starts at 7,000 feet and ends at 9,000 and your goal is to come within 10 seconds of your 15 minute p.r." 

And you wonder how it could be possible that general health is mapped in a bell curve with elite athletes on the far right end of the spectrum.  Go figure.

The craziest part of it all is that he will probably have to get a follow-up injection in another month.  But it's all part of the sacrifices athletes make in pursuit of their childhood dreams.