Schöffl comments on new IFSC athletes' health statement

”During the IFSC Executive Board meeting yesterday, 5 July 2023, the IFSC took note of the resignations submitted by the Medical and Antidoping Commission Chair, Eugen Burtscher (AUT) and member, Volker Schoeffl (GER) and thank them for their service to the sport and athletes’ health. The Executive Board gave full support to the remaining members of the Medical Commission and to the IFSC Sport Department to deliver on approved IFSC Executive Board protocols.” Here you can read the IFSC statement.

8a asked Volker Schöffl, who just resigned from the IFSC Medical Commission, due to the "non-action of IFSC", in regard to RED-S problems of the athletes, to comment on the new IFSC statement.

"Well, it just shows that they do not get the message, continue the way they treat it and do not take internal consequences. Disappointing. Also, it just causes me to worry even more. We have made a very detailed plan and worked on this for months. Nevertheless, they always delay it… or don't want to take real action. Thanks for taking up the topic.”

Could you say something about the plan especially if it includes something practical which can easily be understood?
The plan was: to screen for low BMI/MI. Athletes under a certain threshold would be considered and needed to hand in medical tests, eg lan, bone mineral density, etc, as well as psychological evaluation and questionnaire for reds and eating disorders. These medical health data would undergo medical evaluation in accordance with a scoring system developed with IOC Medcom guidance. Then they would get graded; Green, Yellow, and Red. Red, meaning the risk for athletes' health or psyche IFSC would be supposed to not allow competing for a certain time. It is quite easy. A lot of work went into establishing the evaluation parameters. Everything was finalised from our side weeks ago. No further action was done by IFSC, delayed the process, and did not communicate. MI is mass index which is a fairer version of BMI. Had lots and lots of external specialist opinions etc considered. While BMI/MI has its flaws it is still the easiest ubiquitous accessible tool, also proposed by WHO. It is not used to disqualify anyone, just a filter to see who may have a problem.