Click HERE for Part Two of my Enemies of Jiu-Jitsu Series: The Gentleman's Agreement
And...we are now on Part Three of our Enemies of Jiu-Jitsu Series: Lack of Steroid/PED Testing.
Lack of PED Testing is the pink elephant in the room of the grappling community.
Much like the Mixed Martial Arts of Pride, where drug testing was nonexistent, we find ourselves with a highly competitive sport, yet NO oversight nor testing whatsoever to even dent the use of PEDs in our sport.
This post isn't about the debate over Testosterone Replacement Therapy or anabolic steroids.
It is simply an attempt to address the fact that we have a sport whereby the training, preparation, and competition at the highest levels is a truly elite level sport, yet there is No TESTING whatsoever.
Caio Terra in the controversial interview following the 2011 Pan Championships (below) asserted that many of the competitors in his division and others were juicing.
The General, Fabio Gurgel of Alliance, replied and categorically denied that any Alliance athlete was using PEDs and that Alliance warns its competitors to not use steroids/PEDs. I find such a blanket statement nearly impossible to be statistically true/factual given the size of Alliance's pool of competitors. But then, that's my opinion.
Caio goes on in this interview to discuss what he feels is widespread usage to aid in recovery and to log more training time on the mat.
More shocking (maybe, maybe not if you look at how the IBJJF protects and caters to the high level black belts/coaches) is Caio's claim that the IBJJF is complicit in taking their time moving toward steroid/PED testing to allow the black belts/users to figure out a way around it or to cycle off altogether.
"The IBJFF said they would wait until this year to start testing. Now they say, we’re not going to test this year because we didn’t have enough time to plan. What? They told me something last year and now they’re not doing it, so I brought it up on the microphone."
AND
"Two days before the 2010 Worlds tournament, there was an IBJJF meeting and I said we should start testing for steroids. The black belts laughed. They said, 'We just won’t compete anymore.' After the black belts left, the IBJFF approached me and said they are planning to test for steroids but they need to time to give the competitors a chance to clean up before they start official testing."
You won't see much about statements like this on Graciemag and other grappling websites as they too cater to the IBJJF and follow it's lead.
The article HERE, goes into a lot more of insder/whistleblowing info you won't hear about too many other places. Caio also in direct fashion shoots down many of the commonly touted false arguments as to why testing is difficult/cost-prohibitive and basically shows that the IBJJF is unwilling rather than unable to test due to a cadre of elite athletes that it would effect.
Like him or not, Caio does not mince words.
Happy Trainingz and food for thought.
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