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Genetically modified athletes: Forget drugs. There were even suggestions some Chinese athletes’ genes are altered to make them stronger, but that’s out of the news today and we won’t see another Olympiad funtil next year in Rio…

What Will the Olympics be Like When GMO Humans Appear on the Scene?

The controversy over Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen’s astonishing gold medal performance at the last Olympiad is no longer confined to just the suspicions of drug abuse, which she emphatically denied. 

It has raised concerns about another worrying — and infinitely more sinister — threat to the world of honest competition: the genetic enhancement of athletes.

John Leonard, the highly respected American director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, described the 16-year-old’s world-record-breaking performance as ‘suspicious’, ‘disturbing’ and ‘unbelievable’.

The chilling comment from one of the world’s top coaches seems to herald the possibility of Frankenstein athletes, of an unbeatable master-race of genetically manipulated super-competitors with enhanced lung-power, or heightened strength, or some other characteristic that enables them to snatch medal after medal from honest competitors. ​

And while this might appear to belong to the world of science-fiction, scientists are taking the threat seriously. 

 Tomorrow’s soldiers could be able to run at Olympic speeds and will be able to go for days without food or sleep, if new research into gene manipulation is successful.

 According to the U.S. Army’s plans for the future, their soldiers will be able to carry huge weights, live off their fat stores for extended periods and even regrow limbs blown apart by bombs.

 The plans were revealed by novelist Simon Conway, who was granted behind-the-scenes access to the Pentagon’s high-tech Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Dr Ted Friedmann, chair of the genetics panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said he ‘would not be surprised at all’ if gene enhancement were not now being secretly used by some competitors.

He has been working to find ways to detect ‘gene doping’ and prevent it from becoming common. ‘The technology is ripe for abuse,’ he warned.

But can athletes — or trainers — really enhance their performance through genetic means? 
ut what about the rest of us? Will we accept genetic manipulation that would turn us into Science-fiction Cyborgs?

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