Returning to a segment that surprised many viewers last April, Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel takes an in-depth look into the sport of horse racing and the lack of medical insurance for its riders. In horse racing, a jockey without medical insurance is the equivalent of a NASCAR driver without a seatbelt. Yet for the men and women who ride 1,200-pound thoroughbreds, a helmet is often the only coverage they have, despite the fact that serious injuries are always possible. According to a study published in the American Medical Association's journal, more than 6,500 injuries occurred on the track between 1993 and 1996, nearly a fifth of them involving the head or neck. With riders struggling to pay medical bills and gain the representation of their guild's highest office, Jockey Guild members have accused the association's embattled ex-president, Wayne Gertmanian, of mismanaging funds. Gertmanian has countered that the blame lies elsewhere.
In one of the strangest Real Sports segments ever, correspondent Bernard Goldberg went behind bars in Colorado to profile James Hogue, one of the most successful imposters of modern times. A nondescript high-school runner in the 1970s, who later ran track at the University of Wyoming, Hogue subsequently transformed himself into a series of characters, fooling academic administrators, friends, coaches and teammates. Equipped with charm and intelligence, he began his athletic deception at Palo Alto High School in northern California in 1985, stealing the identity of a child who had died at age two and distinguishing himself as a track star. In 1988, Hogue was admitted to Princeton, where he posed as Alexi Indris Santana, supposedly a home-schooled student from the Mojave desert. His fake identity was eventually blown by a former Palo Alto classmate.
In September, correspondent James Brown examined the disturbing proliferation of 300-pound linemen in high school football. Just being a talented athlete doesn't guarantee success in football today. Players need to be bigger, stronger and faster than the next guy to earn a starting spot on the varsity high school football team, or hope for a shot to play in college. Three years ago, Real Sports examined the proliferation of 300-pound linemen in the NFL, and the willingness of these players to put their health at risk by piling on the pounds. Now that trend has filtered down to the high school level.
Last February, with the countdown to the Winter Olympics underway, Real Sports correspondent Frank Deford looked back at the story of Bill Johnson, the United States' first downhill skiing gold medalist. In 1984, Johnson arrived at the Sarajevo Games a brazen 23-year-old without much of a track record, but with enough ability to carry him down the mountain in record time. Instead of emerging from the Olympics an American hero, however, he acquired a bad image to go with his gold medal. Many were put off by his cocky prediction that he would win the gold, finding it unbecoming in a sport that values respect and etiquette. And unfortunately for Johnson, the next 20 years proved more challenging than any set of downhill gates, as he suffered the death of a child, the deterioration of his marriage, and a horrific skiing accident.
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