12 Aug / 2012Going Beyond with Designer Athletes…. was London Olympics(2012) the cleanest?.

 

This article by Natasha Bita for Inquirer in dated April 13-14, 2002, was an eye opener in the world of sports science for me.

Back in those days, thanks to Ben Johnson, a Canadian sprinter, I became aware of athletes getting involved in drugs and doping.

Nevertheless, after reading this I realized that an athlete in all sports needs to understand what he consumes, deliberately or accidentally!.

In fact I remember Steve Waugh former Aussie Cricket captain saying.” An athlete cannot take even a small anti-biotitic without consulting his doctor, because a small mistake can ruin and end his career”.

Based on research made by Lee Sweeney in his Pennsylvania lab in America, this writer talks about what can happen in near future with gene doping.

Hence I wondered whether this year’s London Olympics was the cleanest?

I am sure there have been great many development in biotech since this article was printed.

And in 2003, WADA(World Ant-Doping Agency) have added gene doping to its list of ban substances and methods.

At the Olympics, experts say science will not succeed in time for the games that started in July 27 this year, as no one is sure whether “gene doping” is actually happening or not, and whether we will able to catch them.

Perhaps in few years from now, a test may show that gene doping had taken place and then we will have to deal with revoking medals!.

Under the new rules an Olympic athlete’s blood and urine samples can be kept for up to 8years, and more than 6,000 samples were taken at the London Olympics.

Time will reveal whether we saw….GMO (Genetically modified Olympians) or humans at the London Olympics!.

 

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