Positivo alla Salute

A healthy diet and working out go hand in hand when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle, but in order to get the best results out of yourself whether it be in or out of the pool, taking care of yourself is the best thing you can do to ensure the continuity of your success. Many people, or in this context athletes, live similar lifestyles as I do, probably even better lifestyles if they’re strong enough to resist all the sweets which is a known “Achilles Heel” of mine. This way of life has helped us push ourselves to new limits and its positive results are constantly driving us forward to be better…

But what if a healthy way of living simply isn’t yielding the kind of results that you want? What if we you getting better, but not at the rate that you’d like? Like in the famous “Star Wars” movie trilogy, that which is impossible under the powers of “The Force” (or this case healthy living), is sometimes possible if turn to the methods of the “Dark Side”.

The reality which I face every day of my life in swimming is that doping is very much real and that it’s a constant threat that is difficult to contain or fight.  For those who dope in sports, “Cities, Altius, Fortius”, otherwise, “Faster, Higher, Stronger” is merely several pills or injections away from instant results. The “Dark Side” is secretly among us and the drug testing systems that are in place are flawed. They are being beaten every day and although we know this, little is being done to fight it, or be one-step ahead of the game.

One thing that has always irritated me was the negative stigma that followed after winning a medal on the international stage. Clearly, “just” passing a urinary test isn’t enough to convince fanatics in each sport from thinking that that winner somehow cheated the system. Although no one said anything to my face during or after the Olympics, I know that it was a circulating story after I unexpectedly broke the 100 SCM Butterfly World Record in 2003. It’s an absolute reality that all athletes are facing…

Things have to change though… and if it’s going to, I volunteer that it start with me and the help of the University of Modena’s “Positivo alla Salute” (Positive from Health) movement. What is this movement you may ask? We are trying to help “clean” sports by introducing “Blood Passports”. In the last 6 months I have given blood twice, every 3 months, in order to retain a “Clean Passport”. To clarify, each sample of blood will show if any illegal activity has been done, and it must be repeated every 3 months to show that we’re legitimate.

Why am I doing this you ask? Swimming is my life and everything in my life revolves around the hopes and dreams I have in this sport. Like most, I dedicated my life to what I do and have made many unfavorable sacrifices along the way… I believe the least I deserve is honesty and legitimacy in that which I’ve given so much time and energy into. Below you can find a link to Positivo alla Salute’s website, along with the analysis to my blood work. Help me in our campaign to rid the poison that plagues our world.

http://www.positivoallasalute.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/188