Thread by @Scienceofsport

(very short thread & some links incoming): It’s been a week where two stories - Cain/Salazar & Freeman’s GMC hearing - pulled back the curtain on what happens in elite sport when perverse incentives (& sometimes people) meet pathological environments. These are lighthouse moments

While specifics differ (superficially, eating disorders vs doping), I think they share a few “source" elements:
1) Imbalance of power - created because there’s “only one way to win”, so there are ‘gatekeepers’ who make or break futures. They assume positions of “idolisation” &

…absolute authority. In the absence of any checks & balances, there’s no accountability. One thing that struck me about the Salazar thing was that he’d go with Cain to the doctor & drive the medical treatment. Everything channeled through one person. It’s crazy. No beneficence

2) Misplaced trust & confidence. Not unreasonably, parents, athletes & the public assume that people will act in their best interests. But those people have other ideas - striking is the re-recruitment of Sutton for medals & money, because that’s how the system was DESIGNED

People maybe don’t appreciate how ruthless & “Darwinian” elite sport can be. If Athlete or Doctor X isn’t prepared to do what a system demands, they just find another one who is, who has the “mindset". Those who aren’t prepared to go to the extremes are often spat out & replaced

So if the top people are ambitious and ruthless enough, and here think Salazar & Brailsford as exhibits, for whom "winning takes care of everything" (cc Nike), then frankly, you’re an idiot if you expect anything other than cheating, abuse & damage from your medal factory.

I think the solution is more ‘lighthouses’ to warn of the dangers, and then to try to eliminate this single point of control model by properly using experts who aren’t all motivated by the same things. It seems that at NOP and Sky/BC, the leadership quickly evolved into a very...

…tight unit of like-minded people, which then controls every athlete experience, and that’s never healthy. That unit would have to be broken, & that could happen either with independent oversight/regulation or a kind of “forced” external consultation. It can’t all be ‘in-house'

Problem with oversight is that it’s all good & well to tell athletes to report unethical coaching behaviour & abuse, but put yourself in the athlete’s shoes - they have “agency” and know that doing this would negatively affect their own sporting ambitions, at least short term

That’s why I feel like the viable option, at least for now, is to create “safety valves” where the athlete can get out from under the narrow chain of command. Cain needed a life jacket to stop her being pulled under by the weight of Salazar & Treasure. Freeman needed the same

So if I was running an elite system, I’d basically find a handful of trusted external experts and say to them “I’m appointing you as my "beneficence officers”. They’d regularly see my athletes in various domains (psych, sports science, medical, diet). The tricky bit is how their

…discoveries make it back to a HP manager, head of the system, coach. Client confidentiality would have to be respected, but I’d also need to know if my methods are causing harm. This is the delicate balance. But at least with outsiders, I’m in a position to know what would...

…otherwise be guaranteed to remain secret. None of this would change actions though, if systems are driven by people for whom medals and money trumps health & well-being. So maybe it has to be channeled via a collection of those people, whose existence is based on finding the

…problems, rather than covering them up. All roads lead to Rome, unfortunately, so if Rome is perverse, well, no solution. I need to think more about it. Anyway, here are some links I think you may enjoy on this issue:
A great podcast with @lindsaycrouse: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/lin…

An interesting article that describes more “lighthouse” stories, and then discusses potential solutions, including external accountability, by @erinstrout: womensrunning.com/2019/11/news/w…

This is a podcast specifically on disordered eating, weight loss and the menstrual cycle, for any women reading this would directly relate to Cain & others’ accounts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/74-… (via @ameliaboone)

That’s all for now, but also @MikeFinchSA & I will record a @sportsscipod podcast next week to speak to experts & athletes about the physiology & psychology of RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, see link for paper) specifically: bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjspor… @BJSM_BMJ