Exercise-induced health problems? Not bloody likely!
Alf believes most New Zealanders would want to extend their best wishes to Sir Peter Snell, on learning today that heart problems prevent the great sportsman from making a trip home for a celebration to mark the most memorable hour in New Zealand’s Olympic history.
The 71-year-old said he could easily have died a year ago after blacking out for up to 15 seconds.
He has now been fitted with a pacemaker/defibrillator device on the recommendation of his cardiologist, after being diagnosed with a weakened heart that can no longer pump blood efficiently – because of a condition officially know as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
He is also on drugs to lower his blood pressure and reduce arrhythmia.
The Herald says plans had been afoot to bring Sir Peter and Murray Halberg together to mark the day 50 years ago when New Zealand won gold in the 800m (Snell) and 5000m (Halberg) within 60 minutes at the Rome Olympics on September 2, 1960.
Alas, Sir Peter could not risk the trip.
Alf admires great sports people like Sir Peter and rejoices in their successes as do most Kiwis.
But he harbours a suspicion about the consequences of excessive exercise and training and what-have-you, and personally he prefers to participate in sporting life as a spectator, pacing himself carefully to ensure he does not get too energetic with his cheering or howling for the ref to get new spectacles and so on.
Too much exercise not only might be bad for you, he has long believed, but furthermore it might consume good drinking time.
He observes that Sir Peter “passed out for 10-15 secs while playing racquetball”.
The three-time Olympic champion, six-time world record-holder and Halberg Trust Sports Champion of the Century, said that over the previous couple of years he had noticed his fitness was declining and he was getting breathless while jogging.
“Cycling was okay so I decided that my lack of running due to knee osteoarthritis was responsible.
“As I later found out this, was not the case.
“At the time of passing out on the court I underwent a series of tests, including a coronary angiogram and a high resolution MRI scan.”
There’s more detail in the Herald about Sir Peter having a big heart, and problems in his left ventricle, and the consequence for blood flow, and other such medical stuff.
More significantly, the Herald says Sir Peter is not the only sporting great diagnosed with heart problems and…
Although sports physicians say there is no established link between exertion and heart problems, there is emerging evidence that extreme exercise endured by athletes in events like ironman races may be harmful.
The Herald lists the names of a few sporting stars who failed to heed Alf’s advice about pushing things a bit much.
Rower Rob Waddell has atrial fibrillation and cyclist Hayden Roulston has arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.
Sir Richard Hadlee was born with an abnormal heart beat and had surgery in 1991, a year after he retired from playing cricket.
Sure, sports physician Dr Dale Speedy said there would be no connection between Waddell’s and Roulston’s disorders and the punishing exertion of rowing and cycling.
“There’s no published evidence of an association between hard exercise and those conditions.”
But both Dr Speedy and Professor Harvey White, the director of coronary care at Auckland City Hospital, refer to emerging evidence of tiny areas of cell death in the heart during prolonged, extreme exercise.
The consequences are unclear.
“They may be sites for abnormal heart rhythms in later years,” said Professor White. “It’s a hypothesis.”
Blokes like Labour’s Horomia Parekura are an admirable example of well known people – in Alf’s political circles anyway – who strive to avoid whatever medical conditions come from too much exercise.
Add Tau Henare to the stats of those who have found exercise and dieting too much for their heart.