FC Barcelona completed the best deal in football history by signing a young Lionel Messi from Argentina at the age of 13.
The contract, signed on a napkinwas based on the fact that FCB would pay for Messi medical treatments.
But few people understand what Messi had and how it affected his game.
Messi was diagnosed with growth hormone disorder, or GHD. It’s often called idiopathic short stature, but there are problems that go beyond being shorter than average. The treatments were expensive, a monthly expense of $900 that his modest family could not afford. Flat River And Newell’s Old Boyslegendary Argentine clubs, passed on this expense despite the promise of a very young Messi.
Treatments consisted of injections of human growth hormone. For a person with GHD, it is life-changing, not only allowing them to develop a larger height, but also helping them deal with a variety of internal problems, such as pituitary function, skin problems and teeth, poor vision and lower immunity.
The use of HGH is prohibited in almost all sports, amateur and professional, but two things need to be clarified.
First of all, The use of Messi was probably discontinued after reaching adulthood. FC Barcelona and Messi’s representatives did not respond to my request for comment on this issue and have not made any public comments in years regarding Messi’s medical treatments.
As GHD persists, its importance for development and function is reduced. If this continues, a player with a diagnosed health problem, especially a long-standing and well-documented problem like Messi’s, could request an extension. exemption for therapeutic use.
A Therapeutic Use Exemption (or TUE) is granted for a player’s use of a prohibited substance when that substance is considered medically necessary. Article 46 of the FIFA Anti-Doping Code contains provisions relating to TUEs. Although Messi would have technically needed a waiver to qualify for medical treatment, and the facts would justify granting that waiver, it is unclear whether Messi had it. WADA only began testing HGH in 2004, even though it was on the list of banned substances much earlier.
Second, Messi did not use HGH to improve his performance. Messi was using prescribed treatment, monitored by doctors, to overcome a health problem. The result is that he is a normal human being today, fourteen years after the treatments became possible.
Messi is 5’7″ per FCB, which is exactly average for an Argentine man. At the time Messi was diagnosed, he was only 4’2″! Messi is now normal and average in the physical sense, but certainly not normal in terms of talent!
Part of that talent, or his ability to use that talent, comes from his size. Even with Messi’s 17-inch gain, he maintained a very low center of gravity. This is not uncommon in football and even less so in Barça, a team that has several high-level players considered small. His teammates Andres Iniesta and Xavi stand at 5’6′, while the Argentina national team has a few players available that Messi would dominate. Diego Buonanotte is 5’4′ while Pablo Piatti and Emiliano Insua are 5’5′.
The use of HGH in sports is very controversial, but it is not uncommon. Lance Armstrong’s recent confession about his EPO use also included the use of testosterone and HGH as part of a sophisticated recovery system.
MLB recently announced a extension of blood tests during the season, although there were no positive tests in 2012, the first season it was used in any American professional sport. The widespread use of HGH in youth sports is a troubling topic because of the questions it raises.
The key questions are: does the player actually have a medical need and is there a cultural advantage? Is HGH used as a medical treatment or is it really a performance enhancement?
Andy Pettitte is one of the few players who admitted to using a banned substance and returned to his normal level of popularity. Pettitte’s confession came after he was named in the Mitchell report, although Pettitte insisted his use was minor and only done to recover from an injury.
The use of HGH is growing in society. Although HGH and testosterone are both banned in all major sports, we continue to see advertisements touting its benefits. You will often see advertisements for these substances at sporting events. If you’ve seen the “Is It Low T” commercials or the many Androgel pitches, you see a substance that would cause a positive test if taken by one of the players between commercials.
Clinics announcing use of HGH appear everywhere, raising many ethical questions about why it’s “good” in one case, but “bad” in another.
Messi could well be the best player in the game right away. He is arguably one of the greatest of all time, being mentioned not only with his compatriot, Diego Maradona (who was only 5’5″), but also with a pantheon of greats like Pelé, Johan Cruyff and Eric Cantona. Without the use Due to the controversial medical treatment, we may not have seen this incredible athlete on the field.
