Study shows growth hormone boosts sprint speed

[Elmore Furth]

Well, so much for the excuse that athletes were taking performance enhancing substances to help them recuperate from injury.

Injections of human growth hormone can improve sprint capacity enough to turn the last-place finisher in the Olympic 100-meter dash into a gold-medal winner, according to a study released Monday.

After eight weeks, researchers found that growth hormone improved sprint capacity in men and women by an average of 3.9% over the placebo group — which would trim 0.4 of a second from a 10-second time in the 100-meter dash, said study lead author Dr. Kenneth Ho at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia. In the 2008 Olympics, the top three male finishers had times of 9.69, 9.89 and 9.91 seconds.

Men who received both growth hormone and testosterone had an 8.3% average increase in sprint capacity, the study found.

The World Anti-Doping Agency hopes to release a second blood test this year that would identify markers for growth hormone. That test would expand the window of detection from a few days to several weeks after a growth hormone injection, Howman said.

Study shows growth hormone boosts sprint speed

[madinmaryland]

1. LOCKING. No Barry Bonds threads.

just kidding!

:hi:

[flvegan]

2. First, DUH.

Second, sounds like a bolstering study to allow for the second blood test that they think will identify athletes that use growth hormone.