New Gary Hall commerical

Insulin injections certainly are "advantageous" to the Type I diabetic--without them, they develop ketoacidosis, lapse into a coma, and die. Muscle building? Give me a break.

I have been a diabetic, have had high blood pressure and mono. They found this out when I was 18, I consider myself fortunate because it was type two Dia... I have had to deal with these things for a long time. I never told anyone about these problems and was harrassed by our national coaches newspapers and cursed by team mates. I understand what Gary goes through. I have done crazy stuf in the past but I loved to compete and tried to do the best with what I had.

Gull80, I'm sorry to disagree, but Insulin actually is advantageous to muscle growth. It's an interesting topic.... with the use of IGF-1 and all. Note: insulin has been used by athletes in the past percisely for its advantage..... Now.... it may shorten your life span in the end. John Smith

So the argument is that Gary Hall is gaining an advantage from his Type I diabetes because his pancreas no longer manufactures insulin and he requires replacement therapy? I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining.

Hard to tell what point White Buffalo was emphasizing the most but you have to admit the thread certainly makes for a great argument. Well, not being in the medical field, I have no idea if Gary's insulin shots helped him get bigger or stronger than he would have been without them. (Although, he's definitely a big guy.) I guess that's all secondary and unprovable in the end anyway. His persona seems to be the primary issue at stake with most people. I'll tell you flat out, if I was Lezak, Phelps or Neil Walker, I'd have been pissed as **** at him in Athens. You don't need divisive team issues and seflish whining by one individual when you are facing the best competition in the world. It's a friggen war in that 400 free relay every 4 years and don't ever forget it. Losing to the Aussies initially in this event was beyond painful and beyond an embarassment. It was horrifying not winning in 2000 and again in 2004. It was the last America's cup event of the Olympics. You can't have peripheral crap and bitching going on in the background. You swim for your country on National team relays and Olympic relays.... No one is above it........... you don't complain publicly while the whole event is going on either...... Note: Phelps seemed to grasp this concept quite nobly and easily........ I have to be honest with you, I was not impressed with Gary not showing up in the evening to watch his teamates. Unless he was in the hospital there really is no legitmate excuse for his behavior, and it's too bad as he is certainly one talented and strong 50 freestyler. PS - I would have thought that given Gary's persona he'd have done the Barbasol shaving commercial Joe Namath style (a la 1960s) instead.... :-) John Smith

In talking about it Phelps said he and Gary agreed to disagree. I'd all but guarantee that Gary would rather not have diabetes than have it and gain some sort of advantage from the insulin shots. Keep in mind that he was diagnosed between the 00 Olympics and the 04 - it's not like he was an average swimmer than suddenly became amazing b/c he started on insulin. He was darn good before his diagnosis and more impressively darn good after. All that said it is pretty sad that a 19 year old was more mature than he was ... he whined that Michael didn't earn his relay spot, well neither did he.

Ande, Have you seen Gary train since he left Austin in 1996? I watched the entire group train here in Phoenix in 2000. I can assure you they trained (and raced) their butts off. Is he training as much as Phelps? Obviously not. But to make a statement that he barely trains is a bit much unless you travel to Miami and watch him yourself. I honestly haven't seen him train since 2000, but he does something right. It may not always be in the pool, I believe the 50 free requires more than just swimming ability. It seems to me the best athletes are the sprinters. If you don't agree with me, think of the distance guy. Does he do it because he wants to or does he do it because he can't sprint as fast as the sprinters. Call me a whimp, but I would choose the 50 free over any other event to specialize in all day long!

Originally posted by White Buffalo Gary Hall Jr defines everything that is wrong with society and swimming and it is difficult to stomach individuals posting praise for him. You gotta be kidding, Hall is indicative of society's problems? Have you watched TV lately? I can think of a few worse things he could have done. We get one flambouyant swimming personality in a generation and now he's the poster boy for society's ills? Oh, and maybe we shouldn't let him inject himself with insulin for a few weeks before and after meets. And, if you are an asthmatic stay off the bronchodilators. Then, you question his training. My goodness, how many gold medals does he need to have before you think he's a good swimmer? Shaq can't make a freethrow, he sucks too.

I have two brothers and a father with Type I (juvenile onset) diabetes. One brother is a dedicated triathlete who completed the Ironman in Hawaii a couple of years ago when he turned 40. He got diabetes in his 20's, and told me one time that he has never once felt 100% while working out since getting it. Aside from the hassles of the constant blood sugar monitoring and insulin shots, or the fact that it will reduce his life expectancy significantly, or the horrific consequences as he ages, think about that for a minute -- not ONCE has he felt like he did. I have nothing but respect for any athlete competing at any level with diabetes. Support stem cell research.

buffalo: Talk about leading with your chin. There are millions of diabetics out there and you make some hokey pokey claim that Hall Jr is somehow negligent in not getting a pancreas transplant or some other "surgical procedure" in order to hold onto an athletic advantage. Let me assure you that the moment either of your allegations get FDA approval for widespread use the line for them will be longer than you can imagine. I think Hall goofed at Athens but I don't think I'll judge his entire character by one slip up. Nor will I take that to mean he's the cause of all society's problems. I heard being an amputee is also and advantage as you don't have to carry around that extra arm or leg weight while swimming. I've seen a few absurd claims on this forum (mostly mine) but alleging some sort of athletic advantage due to diabetes is just about the stupidest one yet. Why don't you ask the family of George Mikan (who died a couple of weeks ago) about all the benefits he saw of diabetes.