Collapse of Olympian Boxer Brings Dark Side of All Sports to Light

For Olympic enthusiasts, gun-ho American patriots, and hardcore boxing fans, when top-tier Bantamweight and gold-medal favorite Gary Russell Jr. collapsed Friday morning, preventing him from competing in the international competition, it stung like a sharp left hook.

Yet, the reason why Russell collapsed and is unable to participate in the 29th Olympiad stretches far beyond the Olympic and boxing communities.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. boxing coach, Dan Campbell, said the two-time Bantamweight national champion was found unconscious and extremely dehydrated in his dorm room Friday morning, when he returned from a morning run.

The 20-year old, 5'5" superstar amateur athlete was trying to make the mandatory weight requirement needed to compete—119 pounds. He was a strong medal hopeful for the U.S., but he hasn't fought at the weight division since almost a year ago, at the world championships in Chicago.

Russell's impromptu exit from the competition due to his failure to make weight, especially for a boxer with such experience and of his caliber, went widely unexpected, but if there is any positive out of this situation, it is that Friday's events have brought subtle attention to an international problem.

Body image problems is a global issue that no individual is immune to. In fact, athletes especially have body image conflicts because they are required to meet vigorous standards of how they should look—much to the likes of runway or advertising models.

Anyone who has ever participated in an organized physical sport, or has modeled, knows the intense boot-camp like training and severe dieting involved with achieving the standards of what you're supposed to look like.

But in order to succeed and fulfill one's potential, he or she has to want to look like that, too.

Although Gary Russell Jr. is the latest example of this, he definitely isn't the only example. According to the Associated Press, British lightweight Frankie Gavin didn't make weight after months of consistently struggling to do so. Gavin reportedly didn't even attempt to make weight, declaring himself out of the competition just one day before Russell Jr. shared the same fate.

Many people will try to associate the two amateur boxers difficulties to make weight with the fact that these athletes are indeed amateurs—but that wouldn't be completely accurate.

Boxing fans vividly remember Jose Luis Castillo's constant struggle to make weight against the late Diego Corrales in their October 2005 rematch of what many view as the fight of the decade in Castillo-Corrales I in May of the same year.

Castillo has since struggled to make weight at both 135 and 140-pound weight divisions. Corrales also didn't make weight in his rematch with Joel Casamayor in October 2006. Both Corrales and Castillo were very unimpressive in their campaigns at higher weight classes.

The question of why arises.

Why are so many trained professionals not only having body-image issues, but also failing to make weight requirements? Some might point to the fact that athletes are forced to stay away from some of the most common foods, making it almost impossible to stay consistent and away from temptation simultaneously.

Others might say that forced dehydration is the big issue, because in order to keep the weight off, it isn't recommended to take in too many fluids if you're not going to sweat it out directly after.

Dehydration is what was seemingly Russell's downfall. According to reports, coach Dan Campbell said, "When these kids try to make weight, sometimes they cut corners. What we believe is he did not increase his fluid intake after we told him to."

But Gary Russell Sr., Russell Jr.'s father, seemed to imply a different reason. Russell is reportedly among many parents and coaches who have disagreed with some of coach Campbell's training methods.

Most notably, his decision to have the U.S. boxing team reside in Colorado Springs, CO for almost a year—the "Mile High" state is notorious for it's thin air. He was also reported to claim that Campbell's conditioning programs emphasized the wrong aspects of training.

The sports community remembers all to well the horrors involved with athletes being dehydrated. In the NFL, it seems like an annual phenomena that a player suffer from dehydration or heat stroke during practice or summer training camps, and unfortunately, death is not an uncommon side effect.

In 2001, former Minnesota Viking offensive tackle Korey Stringer died from complications brought on by heat stroke. Just three years ago, former San Francisco 49er Thomas Herrion died after a preseason game in Denver, CO, and although there was plenty of speculation, heat stroke and dehydration were not counted out as probable causes.

The debate can continue for days, but what isn't debatable is the fact that there is a big issue at hand, one worth further investigation and a search for realistic solutions before more athletes and everyday day suffer fatal consequences.