Interest turns to Tiger Woods PED use: Links to Canadian doping doctor noted

Anyone who knows PEDs knows one of the side effects of anabolic steroid use is a heightened libido.  Testosterone is the fuel of the sex drive in males and females.  The East German Doping machine produced some very hyper-sexual swimmers.   And when one thinks of recent athletes who appear to have a huge libido...one has to consider the use of an anabolic steroids that may induce such a hyperactive drive.

The athlete clearly in the public eye these days is disgraced pro golfer Tiger Woods.  Today named the athlete of the decade (apparently using exploits only on the golf course as a criterion), Woods appears to sport a prodigious libido.

A Canadian doctor called a 'pioneer' appears to be the go to man in several athletes with questionable physical feats (The New York Times)

A Canadian doctor who has treated many N.F.L. players as well as Olympic medalists like Donovan Bailey and the world’s top golfer, Tiger Woods, is under criminal investigation in the United States. He is suspected of providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation.

The F.B.I. investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, a sports medicine specialist who has treated hundreds of professional athletes across many sports, follows his arrest on Oct. 15 in Toronto by the Canadian police. Human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf’s blood, were found in his medical bag at the United States-Canada border in late September. Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States.

Dr. Galea is also being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for smuggling, advertising and selling unapproved drugs as well as criminal conspiracy. He is tentatively scheduled to appear in a Canadian courtroom on Friday.

Activegin, a calf blood derivative, has been known as a blood doping agent among cyclists.  Gary Wadler says this about the substances activity:

In research studies, Actovegin has been shown to exert insulin-like activity, such as stimulating the transport of glucose in the body, as well as glucose oxidation.

That could be good news for athletes, Wadler says. "Athletes are always looking to get more oxygen to working muscles."

''The idea here was to deliver it therapeutically, to improve the transport and use of oxygen and sugar," he says...

(to the Times:)

The United States Anti-Doping Agency has developed “intelligence” that athletes are using Actovegin to attempt to improve performance, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Usada asked the World Anti-Doping Agency to ban Actovegin this year but it declined.

Woods consulted with Galea following his knee surgury in 2008.  Galea, who of course claims he is spotless *any professional ever claim to be corrupt?) has a checkered history:

Dr. Galea has developed a reputation among elite athletes for accelerating recovery after surgery or for helping them avoid surgery altogether by using a blood-spinning technique known as platelet-rich plasma therapy, as well as other pioneering procedures, on knees, elbows and Achilles’ tendons.

Although he said he prescribed human growth hormone to some patients in his general practice and had used it himself for 10 years, Dr. Galea, 50, said in an interview that he had never treated professional athletes with H.G.H.

Dr. Galea said Mr. Woods was referred to him by the golfer’s agents at Cleveland-based International Management Group, who were alarmed at the slow pace of Mr. Woods’s rehabilitation after knee surgery in June 2008. The doctor said he flew to Orlando, Fla., at least four times to give Mr. Woods the platelet therapy at his home in Windermere, Fla., in February and March of this year. When asked for comment about Mr. Woods’s involvement with Dr. Galea, Mark Steinberg, of I.M.G., responded in an e-mail message: “I would really ask that you guys don’t write this? If Tiger is NOT implicated, and won’t be, let’s please give the kid a break.”

Dr. Galea’s legal problems began in late September when his assistant was stopped entering the United States from Canada. Her car was searched by border-crossing guards and authorities found Dr. Galea’s medical bag, which contained four drugs, including human growth hormone, Dr. Galea said. “It was for my own use,” he said.

Galea was raided in Canada:

As part of his practice, Dr. Galea said he prescribed human growth hormone to patients 40 and over to improve their stamina when working out and to combat fatigue, among other health benefits.

“The authorities here and elsewhere have it wrong,” Mr. Greenspan said. “They don’t understand the medical aspects.”

Prescribing human growth hormone is legal in Canada but approved in the United States only for a few specific uses that do not include hastening recovery from surgery or injury. In the world of sports, under World Anti-Doping Association guidelines, H.G.H. is banned though not widely tested for because it requires a blood test. The N.F.L., the N.H.L., the N.B.A. and Major League Baseball do not test for H.G.H.

No, the police may not know unsubstantiated claim, doc, but some professionals do...ethical ones.

However, athletes will do anything they can to obtain an dedge in competition, ethical or not, proved or not.  And Galea apparently has a database of interesting athletes including the 2008 controversial swimmer Dana Torres, who defies gravity with her performances.

“Ten years from now, they are going to say, wow, this guy was a pioneer,” Dr. Lindsay said in a recent phone interview. “That’s the unfortunate thing.”

Dr. Galea blames his current legal problems on his success rate.

“All these athletes come see me in Canada cause I fix them, and I think people just assume that I’m giving them stuff,” he said. “They don’t have to come to me to get H.G.H. and steroids. You can walk into your local gym in New York and get H.G.H.”

The N.F.L. quarterback Chris Simms and wide receiver Javon Walker swear by him. In March, Dr. Galea arranged for Mr. Walker to have cartilage-replacement surgery on his knee in Jerusalem because the procedure is not approved in the United States or Canada. Mr. Walker said the recovery time was half what it would have been if he had had the procedure doctors recommended in the United States.

“He’s a person who just wants to help and heal,” Walker said. “And the world is going to soon know about him.”

The Olympic swimmer Dara Torres said she sought out Dr. Galea to help diagnose the cause of continuing pain in her knee earlier this year. “He found a tear in my quad tendon that was undiagnosed,” Torres said in an e-mail message. “Excluding draining my knee, he has never treated me, but I did see his chiropractor who did soft-tissue work on my leg. That was the extent of my visit with him.”

The Times recounts Galea's treatment of Woods this way:

Dr. Lindsay said he led Mr. Woods’s rehabilitation team after the golfer’s June 2008 surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament. In addition to Dr. Lindsay, who is best known for overseeing Alex Rodriguez’s rehabilitation from hip surgery last spring, the Woods team included Dr. Galea and a Vermont-based strength coach named Bill Knowles.

Dr. Lindsay said he worked with Mr. Woods at his home throughout his eight-month rehabilitation. The work included strength training, conditioning and exercises in a swimming pool, Dr. Lindsay said.

In February, discouraged by the lack of progress, Dr. Lindsay asked Dr. Galea to look at Mr. Woods, who was suffering from patellar tendinitis and had scarring in the muscle. “It’s common after the A.C.L. to have tendinitis,” Dr. Lindsay said. “And the P.R.P. helped.”

Dr. Galea said he treated Mr. Woods in his home four or five times with a borrowed centrifuge from an Orlando doctor. Each time, he said he drew blood from Woods, spun it to increase the platelets’ count and then injected a small amount directly into Mr. Woods’s left knee.

Two days after the first treatment, Woods texted him, Dr. Galea said: “He said he couldn’t believe how good he feels. He’d joke and say, ‘I can jump up on the kitchen table,’ and I said, ‘Please don’t.’ ”

Dr. Galea said that Mr. Woods stayed in touch, texting him after the British Open in July that his left knee had begun bothering him again. Dr. Galea said he flew to Orlando in early August and gave Mr. Woods P.R.P. therapy for a final time.

Very interesting, which might be an issue with those who regulate PEDs.  Those with money and connections can obtain these 'treatments'.

So what about Woods' recent troubles in term of 'drive' and we don't mean off the tee.  Look at Woods before and after photos.  Think of the side effects of testosterone and anabolic steroids.  Then consider an athlete who has established ties with a physician who says he pushes HGH and other PED treatments.

It's like hitting over 750 home runs...hitting long off the tee, with the subsequent side effects.

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