ASTHMA
When your Opponent is inside your Own Body Switzerland’s Matthias Gilgien is fighting for World (WOC) and European Championship (EM) participation – and against a sometimes overwhelming opponent – asthma. Johannes Kornacher, Swiss OL magazine Matthias Gilgien started orienteering as a child. Both his sister Sabine and his father were orienteers, “A little family undertaking,” he says. Up to the time he was twelve, Sabine did better. “That annoyed me.” And motivated him. Because he had a dream sometime to become world champion. He trained more and surpassed his sister. When he was 16 he joined the regional squad and since 1995 he has been a member of the Swiss elite national team. Successes include a third ranking in the World Cup series and 14th place at the World Championships in 2001. For this year his goal was a top-10 placing in the European Championships in Estonia or the World Championships in Denmark. But he has a stubborn opponent to overcome, his asthma. As a child Gilgien suffered from hay fever, with the typical symptoms of watery eyes and nose. He was used to runny eyes and suffering in the spring. Then when he was 22 everything altered: he developed asthma. “Stage change” is what the specialists name this shift down into the bronchial passages, the airways in the chest cavity.
Under control with medication Performance athletes with allergies often develop performance asthma under extreme load. Medication has enabled Gilgien to keep this well under control. Every morning and evening he inhales the medication “Seretide”. He would have the same quality of life as other people if he was not a high performance athlete. The body’s defence system in the pollen season weakens the immune system; the recovery phase from exercise can be an extremely long time. Then Gilgien needs up to 12 hours sleep and runs the danger of catching an infection. The line between load and overload is very narrow, he says. “A bit too much training or too hard and that does it.”
Planning the season against the pollen calendar Season planning does not depend on performance graphs or event dates, but according to the pollen calendar. “In spring I’m always out of it,” says Gilgien. “Asthma and pollen force me to go my own way.” Formerly he held on well into April in Switzerland then, as the pollen developed, he fled to Scandinavia. Since the beginning of 2006 the student of sport science and physics has been living and training in Oslo, Norway. If he goes to Switzerland for races, he tries to get out of the way to a higher area, travels direct to the competition and then straight back.
Not the same chances The risk is high – as the most recent test results show – he cannot call off participation on account of the flight of pollen. Then he just does not have the same chance as others. “If there is a strong flowering, the train will have already departed before I 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER OCTOBER 2006
get into my stride.” For competitions in pollen-affected areas, he’s hoping for what others fear, extensive rains. Previously he would have been angry, if the weather had affected his plans. Now he has developed enough mental strength to set aside the disappointments, “I’ve learned to look forward.”
Even so, sport is his life Matthias Gilgien has invested 18 years of his life into the sport of orienteering. Sport is his life, even though he has always known about his handicap. But he does not make a big deal of it, just saying “Everyone has a weak point.” His strengths are technique and concentration, enormously important in orienteering. His weakness is his health: even at the peak of fitness, his body can let him down. At WOC 2001 in Finland he competed with hay fever, had ‘a weak motor’, but it was mentally his strongest race for a long time. He was 14th, under the circumstances a giant success. Gilgien has learned to measure successes and setbacks by his own criteria. “Did I do the job well?” he asks himself after every race. He knows that he cannot have any influence on the factors of weather and pollen. He has accepted his asthma, but internally he fights it like an enemy, “We are not exactly the best of friends, but we have come to an arrangement.” A fact which has made him strong. He has to make more sacrifices and invest more than his competitors for the same chances. Despite handicaps and setbacks he has always progressed, training about 600 hours a year. He’s also used to being patient. He knows that in orienteering it’s not your actual age that counts but your training age. At 30 he is in his best orienteering years. He believes one day there will be some compensating justice. Sometime, says Matthias Gilgien, the day will dawn when everything comes together: weather, my form and concentration, “Then I’ll strike.” That’s when, he hopes, patience, sweat and the allergy tears will truly be rewarded. Article translated by Ian Baker and vetted by a qualified doctor. Some minor editing has taken place for Australian readers.
Asthma and sport, no contradiction In Switzerland about seven per cent of adults and 10% of children suffer to some extent from asthma. The prevalence of asthma in Australia is among the highest in the world - between 14% and 16% of children and between 10% and 12% of adults have asthma. Although it is not a major cause of death, asthma is one of the most common problems managed by doctors and is a frequent reason for the hospitalisation of children, especially boys. But with good information, appropriate treatment and good management, a high quality of life is possible in spite of asthma. Asthmatics can, indeed should, take part in sport. Endurance sports like running, cycling and swimming are especially suitable. The training increases tolerance and reduces the strain of asthma. People allergic to pollen can protect themselves, partly with special spectacles, suitable route choices or by getting advance information of the pollen situation. For further information www.asthmaaustralia.org.au Orienteers who take medication to control asthma should look at the ASADA web site: http://www.asada.gov.au/ and check the level of acceptance of their medication.
