Lately, there's been such a fuss in the sports world over the use of steriods and other performance-enhancing drugs. Today, I read an article on ESPN.com about genetic testing in babies that can suggest what types of sports he / she will excel in or fail in.
Why again do we care so much about performance enhancing drugs? To some degree, it's a health concern. But there's definitely something more than that.
Here's the only argument that seemed reasonable to me:
Sports limit the equipment used in the game. If we don't limit the equipment, then the nature of the game itself changes. The point of a sport is simply to compete given some set of (arbitrary) rules, so these arbitrary rules are important. Limiting performance-enhancing drugs is simply a way to limit tool use.
But if that's the case, then what about people with "extroadinary" genetic endowment, such as Yao Ming or Shaq (Biggie-sized professional basketball players), etc. What about people who have ambular abnormalities that give them an advantage (such as a Sri Lankan bowler whose inability to straighten his elbow gives him an advantage over other cricket bowlers, or the NFL kicker whose foot abnormality allowed him to kick with a different, advantageous surface from his shoe). Or what about this guy?
For years, people simply assumed that Eero Maentyranta, the great Finnish cross-country skier, was doping when he won two golds at the 1964 Olympics. After all, others trained much harder. Only later was he discovered to be a genetic freak, the beneficiary of a mutation that allowed his body to produce 50 percent more red blood cells than normal. Those cells carried extra oxygen to his muscles. It's the same advantage drug-cheats try to get by taking EPO.
Should he be allowed to compete? How is this any different than simply taking EPO?
I think this is all bollocks and hypocrytical. We're super-happy and shell out billions of dollars to watch genetic "freaks" play, but people who dope "ruin the game." If you don't like watching doped atheletes play, then STOP WATCHING. If you want "purity" in sports then you better screen genetic "freaks" too.