The Fragile Sportsman

I’m sure a number of you caught the Zach Lund story back during the winter Olympics. He’s the US skeleton racer who was banned for having used finasteride (aka Propecia), which not only helps regrow hair but also masks a few performance enhancing drugs. Zach says he was using it to grow hair, and there’s no reason to doubt him. But my question is: Why was he taking it to regrow hair? And the follow-up: Once he found out finasteride was a banned substance, what motivated him to put his hair above his career? If any segment of the population would have a high self esteem, you’d think it would be the professional athlete, even in the relatively obscure sport of skeleton racing. Zach was top dog, a world-cup points leader.

Perhaps this only goes to show that athletes are just as fragile as the rest of us. Perhaps more. They live in a “what-have-you-done-for-me-now” world, where yesterday’s hero is tomorrows zero. Confidence and self-belief are so essential to achieving the maximum athletic performance. Maybe there’s nothing left in the tank when the game is over – no confidence; no self-belief.

Enough speculation. Time to do some work and see what I can find. Baldiness.com readers want to know!

Now Matt over has Six and Out, has brought attention to cricket bowler Shane Warne, who was found to violate certain rules related to the celebrity endorsement of medicines. What medicine was he endorsing? A hair replacement clinic. That I understand. Shane was chasing the Benjamins.