WAS IT THE DRUG RULES?

Olympics Have Banned Many Over-The-Counter Remedies That Help Nhl
Players Survive Season

Upon hearing Patrick Roy's lame reasons for unexpectedly pulling the
pin on the Olympics, a number of other possible reasons spring to mind.

The first is the International Olympic Committee's ridiculously
stringent drug policies, which make it so difficult for pro athletes
to be certain they'll pass the tinkle test.

So many of the seemingly harmless over-the-counter remedies pro
athletes now take on a regular basis are banned substances. It's easy
to see why a player might step away from Olympic competition to
maximize league performance.

This is not to suggest Roy -- or any other pro athlete, for that
matter -- has a drug problem or dependency. But there's no question
that plans to participate in the Olympics can affect a player's
ability to perform in the NHL with any kind of minor, nagging injury
before the blessed February event.

When Mark Messier was expecting to be named to the Olympic team for
Nagano, he was concerned that the anti-inflammatories he and many
players use to help them through the Olympic-induced compact schedule
would not be permitted.

Suppose Vancouver's Trent Klatt were an Olympic-level player. He has
an abdominal injury. Would he have to forgo treatment or seek a less
effective treatment in order to comply with Olympic rules?

What about Mario Lemieux, who just had minor surgery on his hip? Are
the IOC's rules limiting his drug therapy and thus hindering his
ability to return more quickly?

And what about difficulties not even related to specific hockey
injuries? NHL players surely go through anxiety or depression, given
the ups and downs of their profession. Must treatment be waived? And
at what cost?

And let's not single out NHL players. If pro baseball and football
players suddenly were admitted to the Olympics, you might not get a
single player through drug testing if you just walked them in off the
practice fields. Do Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa not look like they
might have put on a little excess muscle over the years? Sosa is
nearly twice the size he was when he played minor league baseball with
the old triple-A Canadians. Mark McGwire wasn't the only guy using
androstenedione, which is legal in the U.S. but banned at the
Olympics. And that says nothing about what else players might use over
a 162-game schedule.

Most Olympic athletes arrange their training schedules to peak at just
the right time. NHL players have no such luxury. You play a game in
Philadelphia one night, and two or three nights later you're playing
your first Olympic game in a different city. That's a completely
foreign concept to some speed skater who has been working toward the
event for four years. The drug policies were made for the skater, not
the hockey player.

The IOC has been forced into these zero-tolerance policies by the fact
that so many countries have devoted so many resources for so many
years to beating the system. They're still doing it, of course, but
even that requires devious preparation for which a pro athlete simply
doesn't have the time.

Roy will take a lot of heat for his decision, whatever his reasons
might be. And others might opt out for reasons just discussed. Those
who do play for their country, however, are making significant unseen
sacrifices to do so.

Tony Gallagher can be heard one hour before and immediately after
every Canucks game on the Team, Sports Radio AM1040.