FOUR years ago, a controversial study by Belgian researchers suggested that endurance training was a killer activity and one best avoided. According to the sport scientists who conducted the research, repeated bouts of intensive endurance exercise, particularly at elite level, might result in enlargement of the right ventricle, which, according to the paper, is associated with potential health hazards including sudden cardiac death.
PATRICK J. LYNCH
But now German sports medicine experts have refuted those findings by examining the hearts of elite master endurance athletes in their own investigation. According to the team from Saarland University, who reported their work in the medical journal Circulation, there is no evidence that years of elite-level endurance training causes any long-term damage.