The Real Science of Sport Podcast

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Show notes

This week's show kicks off in London, where Ross recently attended World Rugby's Annual Shape of the Game meeting. he shares some insider insights on topics including law change in the sport, what fans want, and the tensions rugby bosses are facing to grow the game. Staying on rugby, we discuss head injury management, after a few stories popped up in the world of rugby. In the first, a player was allowed to continue playing by the team doctor, but the referee stepped in to have the player removed with a concussion. In the second, a player admitted to 'cheating' the Head Injury Assessment screen back in 2017 to keep playing with a concussion. We discuss whether Rugby's policies to manage head injuries are working?

Shifting gears, we return to the snow of Milan Cortina, as Gareth noticed some interesting discussion about cross-country skiing, and whether 50km was too long because of the challenges it creates for athletes who run out of fuel. We talk about "hitting the wall", and the truth about how our bodies use carbohydrates versus fat during endurance exercise.

Then we talk doping. First, the UCI have asked its Testing Agency to catch a big name doper, with a feeling that the absence of positive tests isn't necessarily indicative of a clean sport, and their desire to catch a higher level rider apparently reflecting that realization. Staying on doping, Tara Moore is suing the WTA for $20 million after a series of bans, appeals and eventual bans for doping that she believes was inadvertently caused by meat contamination.

Our final doping conversation comes from Athletics, where a Member asks whether the records should be reset when they are suspected of being the result of doping. This would particularly affect the Women's record books. We discuss that, offering some insights into how they might justify the removal of some, but not all records, and whether it can feasibly be done.

And finally, there was drama in the USA last weekend, where race leaders followed the lead car off course, and eventually lost podium spots and prize money. Calls to award those athletes the prize money and places at the World Champs have been growing in volume, and we discuss why the logical solution is not all that tricky, despite the letter of the law standing in the way.

Links

Anthony Watson admits to cheating the Concussion protocols to continue playing
I mentioned the World Rugby Player Welfare Symposium, it's next week (9 to 11 Mach), it's online and it's free to everyone. Here are the details and programme
Sexias power analysis - these guys generally get it pretty close
Cycling is looking to catch a big name doper, according to the NYT
Tara Moore's case against the WTA
Keely Hodgkinson's interview with The Times
Video of athletes going the wrong way in Atlanta
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Show notes

The Milan Winter Olympics concluded last weekend, and in this wrap show, Gareth and Ross look back at the overachievers, the underachievers, and the big stories from Milan, offering insights on who won, lost and captivated our attention. We crown the King of the Games, the best and worst-performing countries, nominate our best performances across the range of sports, from endurance to figure skating (via "stoke"). We also share our biggest disappointments, reflections on what the Winter Games need most, and give our overall ratings to an excellent, thoroughly enjoyable Games.

Links

An article on the waxing woes of every team apart from Norway's
Italian article on Tommaso Giacomel's cardiac arrhythmia and ablazione cardiaca (google translate do your thing)
Some Mikaela Shiffrin interviews - speaking about winning without her influential father and a more upbeat one on the US morning talk show scene
Federica Brignone on her injury and comeback to win Olympic gold
Gareth said not to watch this, but in case you wish to ignore his advice, here's Kirsty Coventry and Bugs Bunny
The highest paid female athletes in the world - Eileen Gu is 4, but look at the split on vs off
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Show notes

The Winter Olympics are a weekend from concluding, and so much has happened, it's been hard to keep up. But we try! In this show, we look at the Nutella doping defence of an Italian biathlete. We discuss the dramatic performance of favourite Ilia Malinin, who confessed to "traumatic thoughts" before his ill-fated free-skate performance in Milan.

There was no scoring controversy in that men's figure skating programme, but there have been in other events - Ice Dance and Big Air were affected by allegations of nationalistic bias, and then in the moguls, there was tie for gold, leading Ross to wonder about the credibility of a scoring system that uses subjective scoring to produce a tie down to the 1/100th of a point. Just share the gold, we reckon!

One athlete who has had no problems, either with pressure or opponents, is Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, now the most decorated Winter Olympian ever, and basically unbeatable in shorter races. Can he deliver the 50km too? Another who has delivered on the promise is Jordan Stolz, though he was denied the 1500m speed skating gold. Reports of his cycling process have led to speculation that he could have a great career in cycling, should he fancy it. We discuss the barriers to that transition, and wonder how he might go about it.

Away from the Games, there's an indoor world record in the 800m, which augurs well for Keely Hodgkinson's longer term aspirations of the outdoor World Record, and which puts Femke Bol's aspirations into perspective. The head to head rivalry may be a season or two away - we explain why Bol needs more than a single season.

And Finally, we return to the snow, where Ski Mountaineering made its debut at the Olympics and left us feeling considerably underwhelmed and disappointed in the structure of the event.

Links

The Nutella defense - report on Rebecca Passler's doping case
The CAS 'non-decision' on Passler's case, but with a few details of what was being argued in her defence
A New York Times article on Ostarine and accidental doping ($ paywalled)
The research paper that arose out of the "sweat contamination" defence against an ostarine positive test
Article on Malinin's free skate drama
David Epstein's article on Malinin and choking
Jordan Stolz the cyclist: An article discussing his prospects on two wheels
Hodgkinson's 800m World Indoor Record
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Show notes

Lesley McKenna is a pioneer in the world of action sports. A three-time Olympian (2002, 2006, 2010), she represented Great Britain on the snowboarding World Cup circuit, becoming the first GB snowboarder to win a World Cup event, and led the World Cup standings as the number 1 ranked snowboarder at the peak of her powers. Following her retirement, she transitioned into coaching and full time management, and was Team Manager of the GB Park and Pipe team from 2014 to 2022. As a veteran of six Olympic Games, she shares unique insights into the preparation, training and mindset of Winter Olympic athletes in the action sports.

She further expanded her understanding by embarking on a PhD with Leeds-Beckett University, that studied and explained how snowboarders and other action sports athletes develop skills, manage risk, and perform in high-pressure competition environments while staying true to the culture and authenticity of their sport This led to the development of a framework she called "The Risk Aesthetic Framework", which explains how action sports maintain meaning, creativity, and community in the competitive cauldron of the Olympic Games.

In this wide-ranging interview, Lesley draws from her experience and her research to share fascinating insights that ultimately reveal the science of "the stoke", and the hidden side of some of the most spectacular, jeopardy-filled sports in the world.

Links

Here is Lesley's website with more detail on her framework
The documentary Lesley recommended is called Pipe Dream - you can watch it on Netflix
Fancy a "backside air" - here's Lesley teaching you the way!
A documentary about Lesley with some footage of her in action
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In the Spotlight this week, we revisit a recurring theme to explore whether a paper claiming no advantage for males who identify as women has any validity, and we cover some news from the world of sport and health.

17:31 Our main focus is on a systematic review, published last week, claiming that evidence suggests no physical differences and thus no sporting advantages in trans identified males. We explain why the paper is misleading, and how the authors and journal ignored very obvious flaws in the research to arrive at their conclusion.

1:31 We also discuss an interview given by Imane Khelif in which the Algerian boxer confirms what was already widely known about male advantage, as well as some surprising details about suppressing testosterone, and defiance and denial about male advantage.

36:44 In sports action, Femke Bol made an 800m debut indoors - we discuss the performance and what it tells us of her ceiling.

43:20 Serena Williams is making a return, but appeared in a Superbowl halftime advertisement to promote ozempic for weight loss, which triggered a wave of criticism and fear about the displacement of exercise, diet and responsibillty for weight loss. We consider the arguments.

50:52 Continuous glucose monitors are in the spotlight, after a range were recalled for providing inaccurate data, which has lead to death and injury in people misled by dodgy data. We discuss the matter in the context of how wearables have to, at a minimum, provide accurate information when decision making will change on the basis of that information.

And finally, a Lance Armstrong movie is imminent, and Hollie Davidson referees a Six Nations match at the weekend. We end with brief thoughts.

Links

The systematic review on transgender women
A previous systematic review, minus the meta-analysis, that reaches the opposite conclusion by focusing on non cross-sectional research
The Imane Khelif interview
The Serena Superbowl Advert
Story on the recall of continuous glucose monitors
Hollie Davidson interview ahead of her Six Nations debut this weekend
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