attention to everyone

[leonard]

Engin,
Simon is correct in his concerns. The liability waivers have not been discussed and that is a big thing for us in the US also the dealing with passing the test but flunking the level of testosterone is an issue. Most of what I posted I had to go look up in our constitution and how many of our competitors have a copy of the constitution? Discussing it here has made some of the consequences and regulations come to light. Even you Engin, do you have a copy of our constitution? Not one armwrestler has requested a copy so they would know what was going on; well I guess not one other than Simon. Engin I have been going to the congress meetings since 1998 and most country heads do not know the constitution and that is something that should change. They also do not know parliamentary procedures for meetings which also makes it difficult to conduct a proper meeting. Simon bringing up this whole subject has opened allot of eyes including mine and yours about what is going to be happening in Japan and what needs to happen. ;D

[leonard]

We are indeed lucky to have him involved and not just on the side lines staying silent. ;D

[leonard]

Is your country going to be in Japan with the World Armwrestling Federation?

[leonard]

I am glad to hear that, we are honored to have you there officially ;D

[simon]

Gentlemen, I very much do appreciate your kind words, thank you, though I wish more armwrestlers would get involved in these conversations I understand why they do not, there are days where I have seriously teetered on the edge of I just do not care anymore simply because it is a very complex situation. Alas though my mother has always told me that I could not change the world, I have yet to reside myself to stop trying. Thank you to both of you for being part of this conversation I could not ask for two more impassioned, insightful and intelligent individuals to have this discussion with.

Since coming back to the sport 5 years ago I have seen a great deal of interpretation and insinuation, conversation and contemplation, stagnation, subjection and speculation, (Don King eat your heart out). It has almost become as interesting to try and prognosticate what will happen next in the sport as it is to pick the winners at major events.

All kidding aside and I mean no disrespect to anyone but we all have seen and heard a great deal of discussion, possibilities, and what seem to be answers at the time but none of it ever comes to a real completion, a conclusion or any semblance of real direction, again no ones fault per say it is a very difficult and complicated subject with many fronts, and things to consider, but now is the time in my opinion to start putting things to bed, tackle them one at a time as much as possible and close the deal, otherwise we may forever languish in this sea of continued uncertainty and unrest. Just look at how long the Olympic discussions ruled this sport, and now I think we have a very clear understanding of what our realistic options are, at the very least.

If you want to be big, you need to think and act big, if you want to be considered a professional organization you have to act like a professional organization, just my opinion but we should not wait for there to be a problem or concern we should aggressively deal with the things we can, if we think we know the details of the substance testing it should be compiled in formal text and peddled out to the entire sport, let the concerns and question come out from the document not during the testing in Japan.

Engin I am always very cautious about speaking in regard to peoples relationships with their governments I know too little about this subject to be considered knowledgeable on this issue, I will take the risk of saying at least your government is involved in your sport, in the case of your friend they are working to help him test in standard or to substantiate that he has naturally high testosterone levels to establish a baseline for international testing. We do not have that here in the US for sure, I would not be shocked to find no one with station in the the proper division of the US government that even knows armwrestling is sport much less how much progress it has made.

I may find out that I am wrong as this may be a sweeping generalization but I would venture to say that in North America at least, most pullers prior to these conversations were sitting back and thinking “I do not use illegal steroids or narcotics so I will be fine”, or “I am using something over the counter or stronger but I will just find out how long it takes to clear my system and I will just quit in the appropriate amount of time prior to the testing in Japan”. I personally think this process could prove to be dangerous, now given the limited amount of testing to be done, the scope of how many people would fail the test purely based upon not being properly prepared for it will not be easily seen just from the testing in Japan.

All of this again, is just my opinion.