RACE WALKER IS LIVING IN SPACE COURAN COVE, Australia (AP) - Peer into race-walker Curt Clausen's room at the U.S. Olympic track team's training camp and you think you're in outer space. On his bed is a hypoxic tent, a contraption meant to stimulate the body's red blood cells and simulate living at altitude. The $6,000 tent, which fits over the bed, is only about 2 1/2 feet by 6 inches when rolled up and can fit into a suitcase, but when opened it looks like a camping tent with Plexiglas windows. The bed's mattress fits into it. A 70-pound generator is necessary to make it suitable for use. "There's controversy with it because the coaching staff doesn't know what it is," said Clausen, the American record-holder for the 50-kilometer walk, "and the Sydney organizers said they wouldn't allow it in the village. The reason for that, in my opinion, is that the Australians have been using it for the past four years and don't want anyone else to have it. "The tent allows you to take it with you. Here I am in Australia at sea level and getting benefits from it." Clausen has been using the tent for two years, and in that span his performances have improved dramatically. Instead of being a non-contender, as he generally was in the past, he now is among the world's best, having finished fourth at the 1999 World Championships at Seville, Spain. *** For the full Clausen feature, see http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569138174-699
