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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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0 9 - 0 1 - 2 0 0 5 Mystery of marathon proportions over Ethiopian runner's death
STEVEN DOWNES
IN THE midst of so much tragedy, the death of another teenager this week passed by almost unnoticed. Yet the girl who died was a world champion runner, aged only 18, who inexplicably dropped dead while on a routine training run with her fiancee.
Alem Techale was expected to be the next great distance talent off the Ethiopian production line. Two years ago, she won the world youth title at 1500m. In three months’ time, she was to marry her boyfriend, Kenenisa Bekele, probably the greatest distance runner of the moment, who has an Olympic gold medal and world records at 5,000m and 10,000m to prove it.
Bekele himself is only 22, but he is already a seven-time cross-country world champion. He was due to be the star turn in the televised Edinburgh cross-country international next weekend, though now his participation is in doubt, as he is understandably grief-stricken.
The circumstances of Techale’s death will have affected him deeply. The couple were out for a run in Ararat, a forest in a hilly area on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, on Tuesday morning when Techale collapsed. Bekele carried her to his car, but she died before they managed to get to hospital.
Her death has been ascribed in some reports to a heart attack, although despite the sudden circumstances of her demise, no postmortem was conducted before her burial on Wednesday - as autopsies remain uncommon, even among the Addis Ababa elite.
Thus, no-one will ever know the real cause of death of an otherwise apparently fit and healthy young woman.
There have been prominent "running deaths" in the past, most notably the American author Jim Fixx, who did so much to popularise jogging in the US until he keeled over on a run one day. But Fixx was in his fifties by the time he died and was also known to suffer from a congenital heart weakness.
"Techale had told some close friends about a month ago that she was suffering from some health problem. But it was never checked out," said Richard Nerurkar, the former British international runner who is an aid worker in Addis.
"There have been other cases in Ethiopia of relatively young, fit athletes dying suddenly, just as in the case of the Cameroonian footballer, Marc-Vivien Foe," Nerurkar said. "This might be something similar." [ErGs] [ErGs]
We may never know. Techale’s death has shocked Ethiopia, according to Amare Aregawi, editor of the English language daily, The Reporter. "When I heard the news with my family, we couldn’t believe it," Aregawi said. "When you look at pictures of her face it is amazing to think that she died.
"Everyone in Ethiopia was acquainted with her. When Kenenisa got his medal and posed for pictures she was with him. She was interviewed on television. We interviewed her and took her picture."
The absence of a postmortem has helped fuel speculation over Techale’s death. "People have started to speculate. There are always conspiracy theories in Ethiopia," Aregawi said. "We have very Shakespearean minds.
"People have started to say - how could she be running and then just die? But there is nothing behind these conspiracies. They are saying things like ‘maybe someone put something in her drink’. But there is nothing to back it up."
Aregawi repeats a phrase that has often been used in the past whenever the prodigious feats of some Kenyan runners have been questioned. "These runners, they come from rural areas," he said. "They don’t have an acquaintance with drugs like aspirin, let alone more serious drugs."
Which would be entirely true, were it not for the fact that Techale was very much part of Ethiopia’s running elite, who, together with Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie, spend half the year training at altitude in modest surroundings in their home country, but for the rest of the time are globetrotting professionals based in Holland near the offices of agent Jos Hermens, and receive all the physiological and medical back-up they need. One expert who she is known to have used, is one of the most famous sports medicine experts in the world, Dr Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt, a Munich-based specialist. Reports from Ethiopia this week suggested that she had consulted him as recently as last September for knee and calf injuries, including treatment to a troublesome achille’s tendon problem.
Dr Mueller-Wohlfahrt has a worldwide reputation in sport, not only for a client list that has included Boris Becker, Jose-Maria Olazabal and Linford Christie, but also because of his somewhat extraordinary homeopathic remedies.
When Scotland defender Dominic Matteo’s knees began to creak too much, a flying visit to Mueller-Wohlfahrt’s Munich clinic saw him injected with juices from a turkey’s head. Others have reported how they have been given injections of enzymes and amino acid drawn from the foetuses of calves.
But many of Dr Mueller-Wohlfahrt’s treatments are shrouded in mystery. When Juergen Klinsmann was unable to play in the early stages of Euro 96, Dr Mueller-Wohlfahrt administered more than 20 injections to the player’s knee. Ultimately, Klinsmann lifted the trophy, but on being asked about the treatment he admitted: "I had no idea what was in any of the injections."
Mueller-Wohlfahrt has a long association with the German national team and Bayern Munich, going back more than 30 years, although allegations that he had the entire 1974 World Cup squad on anabolic steroids - two years before the drug was banned in sport - has prompted some to question his unorthodox methods.
Not Darren Gough, the England cricketer who claims he would not be able to play in this week’s tsunami charity match in Melbourne were it not for the doctor. "I’ve had four operations," he said. "Mueller-Wohlfahrt said if I’d come to him from the start, I wouldn’t have needed any of them.
"He looks after Ronaldo, Zidane, Michael Owen and Michael Jordan - all the big names. I know some people thought it might not be legal, but look at all the people he treats. Would they see him if they were going to fail drug tests? I’ve taken three drug tests and I’m fine. The guy knows exactly what he’s doing."
Yet Mueller-Wohlfahrt’s celebrity client list includes as many flops as it has miracle cures. For instance, days before her Olympic Marathon nightmare, Paula Radcliffe sought treatment from Mueller-Wohlfahrt for a secret groin injury, to no avail.
"To outsiders, my methods are unorthodox," Mueller-Wohlfahrt said in a rare interview seven years ago, "but I stand by my results."
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