I have recently been diagnosed with Polycythemia - which 4 in a million people suffer from. This is a blood condition in which I produce too many red blood cells giving me a richness of blood that some sports people try to achieve artificially via banned drugs.
Now, I’m getting treated to bring it down because I don’t want possible clot-making cells charging round my body in adundant quantities and I’m not planning to run any marathons soon. But would I be allowed to compete in, say, an Olympic marathon?
Presumably I’d garner quite an advantage from my condition in events that required a bit of stamina. (I could be wrong about that, but I’ve always been good at long distance stamina things and now I think I know why!)
What about other “advantageous” conditions? Are there rules about this sort of thing?
EDIT: Apologies for missing the word ‘with’ in the title - I think you can work it out though…
Yes there are medical conditions that are advantageous for athletes that do not preclude them from competing. For example people who are genetically predisposed to Polycythemia (the increase in the red-blood cells that, in normal people, occurs only at high altitude) which gives an advantage during competition, are allowed to compete in the Olympics.
Well, first you’d have to demonstrate the existence of such a condition, and prove that it arose naturally and not as a result of tampering.
If the Olympics had memory or arithmetical competitions, certain savants would indeed be ‘superpowered’ relative to those events and there might be a serious debate about whether they ought to compete. (Are people with photographic memories allowed to compete in serious spelling bees? I’m fairly sure they are.) If ‘physical savantism’ exists, either all Olympiads are or nobody on Earth is.
There’s some debate about whether women with AIS will continue to be allowed to compete in the Olympics. Women with AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome) are genetically male, but their bodies do not respond properly to androgens, so they do not develop male sex organs. They have a vagina (which may not be all that deep) but no uterus, and testicles inside their bodies instead of ovaries. They seem so normally outwardly female that the condition often goes undiagnosed until puberty, when since they don’t have a uterus, they don’t get a period. Women with AIS produce very high levels of testosterone, which some folks think gives them an advantage over genetically female women with respect to athletics and muscle building.
At the 1996 summer games, all females were subjected to genetic testing. 8 were found to be genetically male, and 7 of those had AIS. This is significantly higher than the percentage of women with AIS in the general population.
There has also been some debate about whether people with other genetic advantages (like the “super-baby” with super-strong muscles due to a flaw in his DNA which blocks myostatin) should be allowed to compete in athletic events. Currently there are no restrictions (as far as I am aware) for super-babies or women with AIS.
Where are the lines to be drawn, because the reality is that any sportsperson at the top of the pile has natural advantages, and it does not matter how hard you trin, or how dedicated you are, if you do not have the natural gifts, then you will not get there.
So, say, Superman (assuming the entry rules don’t specificy “human” for the sake of argument)?
He’s faster and stronger than everyone else; naturally so. Admittedly, to a ridiculous extent, but that’s just how fast and strong he is. He hasn’t been injected with supersoldier serum or been bitten by a radioactive spider or anything. He just has natural gifts.
Maybe a bit of a tangent to the OP but there is the case of Oscar Pistorius. He was born with misshapen legs that were amputated and now runs with prosthetics at speeds good enough to challenge top runners with both natural legs. This case is different in that there is the matter of technology involved. Maybe if an athlete had a condition that required him to use a forbidden medication.
IIRC, a number of Olympic champion swimmers have been diagnosed with asthma and were thus allowed to use otherwise forbidden substances: necessary stimulant in the inhaler and all that. (I remember gold medalist Tom Dolan getting hassled about it, whereupon it was pointed out that various other swimmers were doing likewise.)
This is also very common among winter sport athletes, especially cross-country skiers. Exercising at that level in dry, cold air often causes a particular variety of asthma (which generally goes away when the athlete retires), and that asthma is treated using drugs which are otherwise banned. This is going to explode into a massive controversy one of these days…
Seven-time olympic medallist in cross-country skiing, Eero Mantyranta, has polycythemia. In the last week or two Sports Illustrated had an article about genetic effects and sports where this skiier was mentioned.
Regarding the OP’s condition, they do look for unnaturally high red blood cell counts as a way to detect blood doping. IIRC someone diagnosed with polycythemia would be allowed to compete, but only after they’ve demonstrated that this were due to a legitimate medical condition.
Thanks for the info about Eero Mantyranta, Manlob - interesting stuff. Thanks everyone else too. Wonder what would happen if a genetic mutant with some sort of massive advantage (such as super-springy joints) came about and smashed all records by huge distances/times/heights?
Well, if that’s legal, we’re going to have a generation of kids raised on Marvel comics subjecting themselves to Gamma Ray bombs, irradiating their pet spiders in hopes of being bitten, and dousing themselves with radioactive by-products. All to get an unfair advantage in the Olympics.
And someone brought up Superman! I mean, really, an alien? Do we really want people born on other planets with different gravities and red suns to compete against earthlings? I say keep the Olympics, and especially our high school sports Earthers-Only.
I for one am glad that Arizona has laws enabling the police to check and see if any suspiciously good high-jumper is really a Kryptonian.
Snark aside, I did bring up the “alien” issue when I mentioned it. So, overlooking the alien part, assume that it’s a human with superhuman strength and speed equal to his.
Obviously it’s an exaggerated example to illustrate the principle behind my question.