Saturday, March 05, 2005
California - Governor says he won't flex muscle to curb steroids - sacbee.com
California - Governor says he won't flex muscle to curb steroids - sacbee.com: "He has taken steps to get the penis enlargement ads out of his two fitness magazines because he says they're inappropriate for young readers.
He's also told editors to tone down some of the supplement ads so Flex and Muscle & Fitness don't appear to be peddling illegal steroids."
But while he said he'd like to see bodybuilding clean up its overall image, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insisted in a recent interview with The Bee that he's not about to become national spokesman on the evils of steroids.
When his annual Arnold Classic bodybuilding expo starts this morning in Columbus, Ohio, Schwarzenegger is sure to get a new round of questions about steroids when he shows up and meets with reporters.
In just the last week alone, ESPN and ABC News aired long stories on Schwarzenegger highlighting his prior use of the now-illegal performance-enhancing drugs. The stories were aired despite the fact that Schwarzenegger has admitted for 30 years that he took then-legal steroids when he was a competitive bodybuilder and had no regrets because little was known about their dangers back then.
He also took new criticism from state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, whose steroids and dietary supplements bill Schwarzenegger vetoed last year because he said it was too vague. Speier, who introduced a virtually identical bill this session, chided Schwarzenegger for not doing enough to educate young people on the health hazards of steroids.
"He is a marketing genius," Speier said. "If he is truly committed to cleaning up, not just the bodybuilding industry, but sports in general and the abuse of this drug by young people, he can do it."
She may be right about that, Schwarzenegger said. But while he said he wants to work with Speier on a bill he can sign, he insisted that anti-steroid crusader is not his job.
"And the reason is intentional," Schwarzenegger said. "You can't sell too many things at one time. When I was just in show business ... I was much more outspoken about (steroids), and I was actually very proud that I was out there as much as I was out there."
As evidence of his earlier involvement, Schwarzenegger's office released a series of letters he sent to officials of the International Federation of Body-Builders during the 1990s urging mandatory drug testing. According to the letters, Schwarzenegger helped start a special fund for the tests by contributing $5,000.
In a 1990 letter, he said "the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic will be the first professional bodybuilding championship to be drug tested, a fact we are very proud of."
Schwarzenegger has subsequently acknowledged, however, that bodybuilding contestants at his expo and in other competitions obviously use steroids to maximize their training regimens, but that it's not very hard to hide the fact by taking other chemicals.
Regardless, he said, he has a different agenda these days.
"I'm trying to sell our reforms," he said of his plans for a special election aimed at overhauling much of state government. "If I start talking about steroids, then that becomes a whole other phenomenon, so that's not my mission. I was not sent to Sacramento to take care of the steroid issue worldwide."
But when the former seven-time Mr. Olympia winner took on the role of executive editor of Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazines last year, his contract allowed him to influence their content. He also has a monthly column for each magazine and the publishers have agreed to donate $1.5 million over six years to the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness.
"Sometimes I think that I don't pay enough attention to it, and then when people bring it to my attention and say, 'Arnold, if you get involved, we can really drive this home,' then I get involved with it," he said. "But again, I'm doing it internally, rather than with a press conference or anything like that."
So Schwarzenegger met recently with Peter McGough, who is an editor at both magazines, and told him he wants the magazines "toned down."
"The way the people advertise the products in the magazines, sounds almost like, you know, steroids," Schwarzenegger said. "We should really be actively campaigning against that. We should take it out of the magazines."
He said he told McGough that the penis enlargement ads also needed to go.
"I've been looking at it for months now, and I say this is wrong," Schwarzenegger said. "I think these magazines are for young kids. We should go out and we should put a product out there that really puts the best foot forward, and it's something that is good for young kids to read."
McGough, who is attending the Arnold Classic this weekend, said the magazines are taking Schwarzenegger's suggestions to heart.
"Whatever Arnold Schwarzenegger, seven-time Mr. Olympia and the bodybuilding icon in the world suggests - and he is our executive editor - we're obviously going to take that totally on board and respond appropriately," McGough said.
But the moves aren't likely to stanch the criticism that has come Schwarzenegger's way. Supplement makers help finance the giant Arnold Classic - 14,000 athletes compete and 100,000 fans attend - and some critics say Schwarzenegger's support of the expo and his involvement in the magazines send the wrong message.
The fitness expo, which Schwarzenegger and partner Jim Lorimer started in 1989, is a profitable venture. Schwarzenegger, who said he splits everything down the middle with Lorimer, called his share "Mickey Mouse money."
"If you have a magazine full of guys committing felonies just by possessing the drugs, by him having his name on the mastheads is a bad message for the governor of California to be sending," said Jeff Everson, publisher of Planet Muscle magazine.
Everson, who trained with Schwarzenegger in the past, is also a former editor of Muscle & Fitness and is married to Cory Everson, a six-time Ms. Olympia winner.
"It might be different if you were just a movie star or something, but it's a different ethical position to be governor of the state of California and be involved with magazines obviously featuring athletes who use steroids," he said.
As he did at last year's classic, Schwarzenegger said he's also trying to quietly influence the sport so it glorifies giant muscles less and puts greater premium on posing, body symmetry and other characteristics he was known for when he competed.
"The bodies have gone overboard," he said. "Now you see guys having 25-inch arms, and 25-inch necks, and they are 5-8. It doesn't look right."
The way to discourage steroid use by bodybuilders, he said, is "to make them know that we are not paying that much attention to size. We're paying much more attention to symmetry, definition, proportions and the posing routine."
"Let's get back to some of the people looking at this and saying, 'Yeah, I could get something like that. I could get the body, I could get inspired,' rather than saying, 'I don't want to look like this, excuse me,' and then walk away."
The real test of Schwarzenegger's commitment, Speier said, will be whether he's willing to sign legislation that helps keep steroids and other dangerous supplements away from young people.
In addition to requiring high school coaches to be trained on the hazards of steroids, athletes would have to sign statements that they don't use performance-enhancing dietary supplements before they could compete in sports. In his veto message last year, Schwarzenegger said the definition of those supplements was "unclear, open-ended and difficult to interpret."
"I think he has to use the power of his position in a constructive manner on this issue," Speier said. "I'm just going to take him at his word that he's going to do something. But he's got to walk the talk. To this point in time, he hasn't."
About the writer:
* The Bee's Gary Delsohn can be reached at (916) 326-5545 or gdelsohn@sacbee.com.
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He's also told editors to tone down some of the supplement ads so Flex and Muscle & Fitness don't appear to be peddling illegal steroids."
But while he said he'd like to see bodybuilding clean up its overall image, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insisted in a recent interview with The Bee that he's not about to become national spokesman on the evils of steroids.
When his annual Arnold Classic bodybuilding expo starts this morning in Columbus, Ohio, Schwarzenegger is sure to get a new round of questions about steroids when he shows up and meets with reporters.
In just the last week alone, ESPN and ABC News aired long stories on Schwarzenegger highlighting his prior use of the now-illegal performance-enhancing drugs. The stories were aired despite the fact that Schwarzenegger has admitted for 30 years that he took then-legal steroids when he was a competitive bodybuilder and had no regrets because little was known about their dangers back then.
He also took new criticism from state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, whose steroids and dietary supplements bill Schwarzenegger vetoed last year because he said it was too vague. Speier, who introduced a virtually identical bill this session, chided Schwarzenegger for not doing enough to educate young people on the health hazards of steroids.
"He is a marketing genius," Speier said. "If he is truly committed to cleaning up, not just the bodybuilding industry, but sports in general and the abuse of this drug by young people, he can do it."
She may be right about that, Schwarzenegger said. But while he said he wants to work with Speier on a bill he can sign, he insisted that anti-steroid crusader is not his job.
"And the reason is intentional," Schwarzenegger said. "You can't sell too many things at one time. When I was just in show business ... I was much more outspoken about (steroids), and I was actually very proud that I was out there as much as I was out there."
As evidence of his earlier involvement, Schwarzenegger's office released a series of letters he sent to officials of the International Federation of Body-Builders during the 1990s urging mandatory drug testing. According to the letters, Schwarzenegger helped start a special fund for the tests by contributing $5,000.
In a 1990 letter, he said "the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic will be the first professional bodybuilding championship to be drug tested, a fact we are very proud of."
Schwarzenegger has subsequently acknowledged, however, that bodybuilding contestants at his expo and in other competitions obviously use steroids to maximize their training regimens, but that it's not very hard to hide the fact by taking other chemicals.
Regardless, he said, he has a different agenda these days.
"I'm trying to sell our reforms," he said of his plans for a special election aimed at overhauling much of state government. "If I start talking about steroids, then that becomes a whole other phenomenon, so that's not my mission. I was not sent to Sacramento to take care of the steroid issue worldwide."
But when the former seven-time Mr. Olympia winner took on the role of executive editor of Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazines last year, his contract allowed him to influence their content. He also has a monthly column for each magazine and the publishers have agreed to donate $1.5 million over six years to the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness.
"Sometimes I think that I don't pay enough attention to it, and then when people bring it to my attention and say, 'Arnold, if you get involved, we can really drive this home,' then I get involved with it," he said. "But again, I'm doing it internally, rather than with a press conference or anything like that."
So Schwarzenegger met recently with Peter McGough, who is an editor at both magazines, and told him he wants the magazines "toned down."
"The way the people advertise the products in the magazines, sounds almost like, you know, steroids," Schwarzenegger said. "We should really be actively campaigning against that. We should take it out of the magazines."
He said he told McGough that the penis enlargement ads also needed to go.
"I've been looking at it for months now, and I say this is wrong," Schwarzenegger said. "I think these magazines are for young kids. We should go out and we should put a product out there that really puts the best foot forward, and it's something that is good for young kids to read."
McGough, who is attending the Arnold Classic this weekend, said the magazines are taking Schwarzenegger's suggestions to heart.
"Whatever Arnold Schwarzenegger, seven-time Mr. Olympia and the bodybuilding icon in the world suggests - and he is our executive editor - we're obviously going to take that totally on board and respond appropriately," McGough said.
But the moves aren't likely to stanch the criticism that has come Schwarzenegger's way. Supplement makers help finance the giant Arnold Classic - 14,000 athletes compete and 100,000 fans attend - and some critics say Schwarzenegger's support of the expo and his involvement in the magazines send the wrong message.
The fitness expo, which Schwarzenegger and partner Jim Lorimer started in 1989, is a profitable venture. Schwarzenegger, who said he splits everything down the middle with Lorimer, called his share "Mickey Mouse money."
"If you have a magazine full of guys committing felonies just by possessing the drugs, by him having his name on the mastheads is a bad message for the governor of California to be sending," said Jeff Everson, publisher of Planet Muscle magazine.
Everson, who trained with Schwarzenegger in the past, is also a former editor of Muscle & Fitness and is married to Cory Everson, a six-time Ms. Olympia winner.
"It might be different if you were just a movie star or something, but it's a different ethical position to be governor of the state of California and be involved with magazines obviously featuring athletes who use steroids," he said.
As he did at last year's classic, Schwarzenegger said he's also trying to quietly influence the sport so it glorifies giant muscles less and puts greater premium on posing, body symmetry and other characteristics he was known for when he competed.
"The bodies have gone overboard," he said. "Now you see guys having 25-inch arms, and 25-inch necks, and they are 5-8. It doesn't look right."
The way to discourage steroid use by bodybuilders, he said, is "to make them know that we are not paying that much attention to size. We're paying much more attention to symmetry, definition, proportions and the posing routine."
"Let's get back to some of the people looking at this and saying, 'Yeah, I could get something like that. I could get the body, I could get inspired,' rather than saying, 'I don't want to look like this, excuse me,' and then walk away."
The real test of Schwarzenegger's commitment, Speier said, will be whether he's willing to sign legislation that helps keep steroids and other dangerous supplements away from young people.
In addition to requiring high school coaches to be trained on the hazards of steroids, athletes would have to sign statements that they don't use performance-enhancing dietary supplements before they could compete in sports. In his veto message last year, Schwarzenegger said the definition of those supplements was "unclear, open-ended and difficult to interpret."
"I think he has to use the power of his position in a constructive manner on this issue," Speier said. "I'm just going to take him at his word that he's going to do something. But he's got to walk the talk. To this point in time, he hasn't."
About the writer:
* The Bee's Gary Delsohn can be reached at (916) 326-5545 or gdelsohn@sacbee.com.
|
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