Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

If you've ever been to the Armory indoor track in NYC you know that it's one of the few facilities in the country that does a great job of showcasing the sport and it's past champions from the high school level all the way up to the elite level. The hall of fame they have is great for the casual observer as well as the track nut. As the indoor track season gets ready to roll and the Ar
 
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this is very pleasing, as pissed as many of us are at the cheaters and those in USATF that cover for them.

one thing that makes me apprehensive, though, is the following idea mentioned in the article:

     "Stripped to its essence, the program calls for athletes to volunteer for all manner of inspection, including samples of urine, blood, hair, nails, etc…Furthermore, the findings from the tests would establish the baseline for an athlete's personal biochemistry."

There seems to be some potential for abuse, with the advent of gene doping and cloning. Who's to say crooked labs won't take the genetic make-up from the samples of the best athletes in the world and sell them, giving to experimentation with the creation of physically superior human beings? I'm no scientist, but isn't this a possible outcome?

saltojump5 - 27 November 2006 09:30 PM

There seems to be some potential for abuse, with the advent of gene doping and cloning. Who's to say crooked labs won't take the genetic make-up from the samples of the best athletes in the world and sell them, giving to experimentation with the creation of physically superior human beings? I'm no scientist, but isn't this a possible outcome?

I think it would be more complex than this. Also, at a recent USATF high performance meeting, a geneticist from Baylor indicated that ALL forms of doping (including gene doping AND as-yet unidenfied drugs) could quite easily be identified by a technique he uses to examine RNA. Can't remember the details other than that they aren't intended for doping identification and that he seemed dumbfounded why they weren't currently being used. I do remember that it would require quite a bit of money.