Skip to main content

JAAF Cracking Down on Iron Injection Abuse, to Require Blood Testing at National High School Ekiden

On Dec. 19 it was learned that the JAAF is formulating guidelines to be released next spring that strongly urge coaches and athletes to refrain from taking the iron injections that are believed to be common practice at some top high schools to enhance their athletes' performances in the name of treatment for anemia. The JAAF will encourage other anemia treatments such as taking iron supplements orally.

Accumulation of iron in the body can have a negative impact on physical health, including damage to the liver. The JAAF has previously requested coaches refrain from resorting to injections, but as the practice continues as a method of performance enhancement the JAAF is determined to take a stronger position. The determination of whether an iron injection is necessary or not is currently left to the judgment of an athletes' doctor. From now on the facile use of iron injections, even in the name of therapeutic use, will be restricted to severe cases of anemia where oral intake is not practical.

On Dec. 20 the JAAF plans to explain its policy in a meeting with major organizations including the National High School Physical Education Federation, the Japan Junior High School Physical Education Federation, and university and corporate league groups. It will distribute guidelines outlining the risks of iron injections and the nature of exceptional cases in which their use can be exempted for therapeutic use beginning next spring. JAAF director Mitsugi Ogata commented, "We thought it would be enough to ask people to stop, but as the practice has continued we must work together with doctors to eliminate its abuse." Beginning in 2019 the JAAF also plans to require blood test results from athletes participating in the National High School Ekiden Championships.

In line with the JAAF's direction, on Dec. 18 the Kyoto Prefectural Medical Association issued a directive to medical institutions within the prefecture not to perform iron injections upon high school athletes ahead of the Dec. 23 National High School Ekiden Championships to be held in Kyoto and urged the Kyoto Prefectural Sports Association and Athletics Association to provide coaches with accurate information on the injections' dangers. The directive told doctors that iron injections can cause a shock reaction in the short term and cirrhosis of the liver in the long term and said, "Along with debasing the principle of safe, fair and ethical sport, this practice is also a serious violation of insurance regulations."

More background on this story here.

source articles:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20181219-00000107-kyodonews-spo
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20181219-00000050-jij-spo
https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2018121905857&g=soc
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...
1 comment
Read more

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more