Fit for life?

Britain's top athletes are on their marks for the 2004 Olympics, which begin on Friday. But how will training at an elite level affect them long-term? Diane Taylor asks four past medal-winners about their health now

In a few days' time a succession of bodies honed to the purest, most extreme form of physical perfection will run, jump and spin into action in Athens. The athletes competing in the 2004 Olympics have trained to a level unachievable for most people. The benefits are obvious - medals for the best, fame and admiration around the globe, and a serotonin buzz without parallel.

But what of the downside? While medical experts universally agree about the health benefits of physical activity, there is an optimum level. Does the physical thrashing of the body at its peak leave it weak and mangled in the post-competition years or is it an investment that pays long-term dividends?

According to Dr Greg Whyte, director of science and research at the English Institute of Sport, the key to long-term health for Olympic athletes is not to cross the fine line between "super physiology" and damage.

"Getting this right is dependent on how well the athlete is managed," he says. "There are a fair number who cross the line and this can result in unexplained under-performance syndrome, an ME-like condition that affects about 10% of elite athletes training in endurance sports."

Osteopenia, a reduction in bone mineral density, is a condition that can cause long-term damage to both male and female athletes. It can lead to an increase in stress fractures although Whyte says that no one has yet proved a link with cause and effect of intensive training.

He and his team are studying exercise-induced asthma and look ing at the impact of sports such as swimming and skiing where very high volumes of air go through the lungs on a prolonged basis. Environmental pollution absorbed into the lungs at much higher levels than that of non-competitive swimmers and skiers is thought to be a factor in the development of long-term asthma.

Anabolic steroids, which are, of course, banned but have been used by some athletes in recent years, can also cause long-term damage to the body, including early heart disease, increased tendon damage, liver disease and changes in the composition of blood cholesterol, increasing the risks of coronary artery disease.

Eating disorders are another occupational hazard for Olympic athletes. Research carried out at the University of Leeds found that almost one in 10 of Britain's top female distance runners had some kind of eating disorder. In the short term, reducing body fat does improve athletic performance as oxygen can be transported to the muscles more quickly. However, in the longer term it can lead to the loss of muscle bulk as well as causing osteoporosis and kidney damage.

Managing Olympic athletes so that they can continue to raise the bar of achievement for the human body ever higher has become a highly sophisticated science. But the sheer complexity of the combination between genes, environment and training means that it is impossible to always achieve the ultimate super-physiology while at the same time insulating the body from long-term damage. Most elite athletes follow all the state-of-the-art advice available in the hope that they will not only win medals but also glide into an agile middle and old age. Then they unscientifically cross their fingers and hope for the best.

Christopher Dean, 46 With Jayne Torvill, gold for ice dancing in 1984, Sarajevo, and bronze in 1994, Lillehammer

Most of our training took place on the ice and we practised for about five hours a day. Jayne was my weights workout and I spent a lot of time lifting her. But it wasn't the conventional sort of weightlifting where you bend your knees - we always performed things off balance, which puts a lot of strain on the arms and on the lower back. Jayne used to hang off my neck quite a lot, too. Groin strains were common because of the stretches and extensions we were always doing. There was also a lot of mental stress associated with the Olympics. Everything you work for comes down to one routine of four minutes.

When we competed as amateurs in the Olympics we would practise all year for three or four events. When we turned professional, we did eightshows a week - at the weekend we did two shows back to back - with 60 lifts per show. We didn't work out how many miles we skated but at the end of each show we would have lost 2-3lb in fluids. The hardest thing would be having to perform even if we got a bug or food poisoning. After a performance I would look like the Michelin man with ice packs on both sides of my legs, on my lower back and on my neck.

We carried on performing together until five or six years ago. Now I choreograph shows for Stars on Ice. I have some arthritis in my knees and degenerative discs in my back because of the amount of lifting I did, but for a 46-year-old I'm OK. I've trained my body and my muscles to be a certain shape and if I maintain that, things aren't so bad. But after a hard day's choreographing, I tend to end up with the physiotherapist.

One of the great health benefits of spending lots of time on ice is that I've got fewer wrinkles than people who spend lots of time in the sun, like tennis players and golfers.

There was a sadistic pleasure in pushing my body to the pitch I did but I don't still hanker after that physical perfection; I've let loose now, I don't think it's healthy to stay that wound up for ever. These days I think that people who push their bodies to the ultimate goal have probably gone a bit too far and I don't think that's healthy. But I don't regret the way I pushed my body. Oh gosh, no. I wouldn't change a thing.

Colin Jackson, 37 Silver medal for the 110m hurdles in 1996, Atlanta

For my training as a sprinter I had to push my body by lifting weights and be as flexible as a gymnast, as well as the running. It was a total combination of work and I would have to spend at least four hours a day on it. It was hard when the weather was dark or gloomy but I could never miss a session because then I knew it would be easier to miss a second, third or fourth training session too.

I did push my body to its limits and because the body can only do certain things I had to train my mind to be stronger than my body. As a result, there were a few occasions when my commitment to training was too intense and my body couldn't handle it. At those times my body would literally crash and collapse. My knees have always been my biggest problem. I have had seven operations on them - one to realign the patella and the others because of cartilage problems. I've been told that the weaker the muscles around my knees become, the more chance I have of developing arthritis, so I have to keep them in shape if I want to avoid that.

At the moment there isn't any arthritis there and I'm not doing any running. It's way too much hard work to start that again. I did start training again with guys who are still competing but I started training too intensely - it's all or nothing for me. I've just come back from a skiing holiday and if I'm bored I'll do press-ups and sit- ups, but that's it at the moment.

I think that the most important thing any Olympic athlete can do to preserve their health long-term is to know when it's the right time to retire. If you want to retain your physical health, you have to know when to call it a day. I made sure I did everything I was supposed to do, which is why my career lasted for 18 years. I really looked after myself and I had great medical backup. It's a legacy of those years that I can still do things like the splits.

Liz McColgan, 40 Silver medal for the 10,000m in 1988, Seoul

I used to train for about three and a half hours a day. I would run 145 miles a week for three weeks and on the fourth week I would have an easy week running 105 miles. I also went to the gym a couple of times a week, lifting weights and doing circuit training. These days I still run - I started when I was 11, so it's a way of life. I just go out running once a day now rather than the two or three times a day I used to go out.

I think that, considering the amount of training I used to do, my body has done pretty well. I've got arthritis in my feet but so has my sister and she doesn't do much exercise so it's probably a genetic thing rather than caused by my running.

I did have one serious problem with my knee but that was a result of wearing ill-fitting orthotics. I've got a lot of energy as a result of all the exercise I do. I feel it's good to push your body to its limits. Every time I push my body further than I've pushed it before it makes me feel good. Seeing how far I could push myself is what gives me a thrill in running. I still time myself and I can still achieve the same highs I achieved during the Olympics.

Mary Peters, 65 Gold medal for the pentathlon (hurdles, shot, high jump, long jump and 200m) in 1972, Munich

I started competing at 16 and carried on until I was 35. I used to train for two hours a day because I was an amateur and athletics was just a hobby for me. With weightlifting, pentathlon, high jump, long jump and 200m, my body got a lot of abuse but I've just had my 65th birthday and am enjoying really good health. I've never been in hospital apart from one very minor thing overnight. I don't have any problems in my joints or anywhere else.

I would have 860lb weights on my shoulders and would do one-arm jerks with 120lb weights. I never warmed up properly the way athletes are taught to today, I never drank three litres of water the way people are advised today and I never ate pasta before an event as athletes are advised to do today. I used to eat steak and salad and I'm absolutely fine. I ran a gym for 20 years so I kept myself pretty fit and I've just been trekking in New Zealand to raise money for Mencap, walking 100 miles over the course of eight days.

When I was training for the Olympics I did work hard but it was just a hobby; it wasn't torture and I didn't push myself beyond my limits. I can remember one athlete saying that he was sick after every training session and that if he wasn't sick he hadn't trained properly. That didn't happen to me. These days, athletes do a lot of warming up and warming down but I just didn't have the time. I did pull a hamstring one season and I got tennis elbow early on because of poor technique in my shot-putting but that was all. I think the standard of Olympics athletes has improved enormously. I did it for fun and if I was successful that was a bonus.

I think physical activity has always been important in the evolution of men and women and I think people move around less than they did 50 years ago. Exercising makes me feel so much better mentally and physically.

I'm not quite as supple as I used to be but I'm lucky not to have suffered any ill effects from competing at Olympic level. I think it's partly down to genes; my brother is also fairly active and in good health. I feel as if I'm 18 even though I don't look it.

· Colin Jackson is a member of the commentary team providing live coverage of the Olympics on BBC1 and BBC2, August 13-29.

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