Fat reason?

Just weeks ago, three American champion giants made the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team. A 280-pound champion of the javelin joined the Canadian Olympic team last week. A winning 280-pound Arizona State athlete in shot put and discus was selected as the best male athlete of the 2007-8 school year and made the longest throw by any high school athlete in the nation last month. University of New Mexico’s strongest male athlete, weighing in at 320 pounds, could bench press 450 pounds and squat 650 pounds. Last week, three of the best athletes named by the Examiner weighed in at over 280 pounds, tops in their fields of professional basketball, boxing and golf.

A 280-pound firefighter was just fired from the Aberdeen fire department after 20 years of service because he was said to be too fat for the job. His fellow firefighters have come to his defense, according to the Fire Brigades Union in Scotland. By news accounts, weight was the measure of fitness, as he was told to lose 3 stones (42 pounds) in 3 months to keep is job.