Pumping Iron in Kabul

Today, I spent the morning editing a feature on how bodybuilders in Afghanistan are so desperate to gain the title "Mr Afghanistan", that they are taking anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, which are leading to severe health complications.

No one can really prove that they are taking the drugs, or indeed dying from them, as there are no testing facilities here. But anecdotal evidence from bodybuilders themselves, doctors and trainers all points to this being a worrying trend among the young. Those youngsters, always wanting to get somewhere fast, says one of the trainers, lamenting the days when athletes would bulk up with eggs, honey, dates and macaroni.

Yep, he did say macaroni. I asked the translators, and yes, they do have it here, although first they told me it was spaghetti but then showed me it's length, like a finger. Macaroni, all right. But then they said it was twisty, just a bit, and I was on the verge of saying, well if it's twisty, it's not really macaroni, but then decided that it wasn't affecting the nature of the story so left it. If there is an editor goddess, she will surely understand.

I also had to check with the reporter about the names of some of the drugs, none of which matched anything I could find on the Internet, and asked him to add a few lines about the popularity of bodybuilding in Afghanistan.

Apparently, it is one of the fastest growing "sports". Which is not surprising really when you look at some of the other popular sports in Afghanistan such as Bushkashi, polo with a goat carcass, wrestling, and warlording.
There are 200 gyms  in Kabul alone, and about 1,100 across the country, there is even one for women in a province outside Kabul. Most have posters of Arnold Schwarzenegger plastered across the walls, I'm not sure what's on the walls of the women's gym. Even during the Taliban era, bodybuilding was popular, with old Soviet tanks and weapons put to ingenenious use as weights. Men, however, had to work out in their shalwar kameez as nakedness was considered un-Islamic.

So where do they get the drugs? I ask. The reporter laughs. It seems any chemist will sell you a pack of outdated steroid pills intended to muscle up an old person - or anything else he has stashed in his shop.  But why do they do it, I want to know, why is it so important to have these gargantuan bodies? Is it to impress women? The translator giggles.

The reporter doesn't flinch. He also doesn't look me in the eye, but then he hasn't since I nixed his dream to become security correspondent by recommending he be given the sport and culture beat instead.

So back to the why. Is it money I ask, do they win a lot in competitions? No he says, it's fame; they want to be popular. So is this what it's all about then, the decades of war and this constant fight for power among jihadi leaders, powerbrokers and the Taliban? It's all because they want to be popular, a desire for adulation. 

As for bodybuilding, it must be for the fame, as when I do some research I find that last year's Mr Afghanistan, walked away with a tracksuit and plastic trophy.

So attached is a link to some wonderful pics, not ours sadly, of Afghan bodybuilders.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/22/pumping_iron_in_kabul