Skip to main content

Human Enhancement in Sports

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Science and Technology Convergence

Abstract

This chapter examines the range of sciences and technologies that converge around sports and the implications of this for issues of fairness and ethics. First, it outlines some of the recent scientific developments that speak to the convergence of disciplines pertinent to sports enhancements. Second, it considers the consequences of convergence within sport, inquiring into the practical ethical issues it provokes. Finally, it explores examples of technological effect in sport, which, collectively, articulate how far ranging are the many ways in which innovation converges on sports. In so doing, it provides a taxonomy of innovations which reveal the complexity of technological change in sports and the challenge of isolating artifice from nature.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 699.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 949.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Academy of Pediatrics (2005) Policy statement: use of performance-enhancing substances. Pediatrics 115:1103–1106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Australia Law Reform Commission (2003) ALRC 96: essentially yours

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton-Davis ER, Shoturma DI, Musaro A, Rosenthal N, Sweeney HL (1998) Viral mediated expression of insulin-like growth factor I blocks the aging-related loss of skeletal muscle function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:15603–15607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjerklie D (1993) High-tech olympians. Technol Rev 96:22–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody H (2000) An overview of racket technology. In: Haake SA, Coe AO (eds) Tennis science and technology. Blackwell, London, pp 43–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Brull D, Dhamrait S, Myerson s, Erdmann J, Regitz-Zagrosek V, World M, ... Montgomery H (2001) Bradykinin B2BKR receptor polymorphism and left-ventricular growth response. The Lancet, 358:1155–1156

    Google Scholar 

  • Busch A (1998) Design for sports: the cult of performance. Thames & Hudson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham BE (1999a) Building the agenda and adjusting the frame: how the dramatic revelations of lylle alzado impacted mainstream press coverage of anabolic steroid use. Sociol Sport J, 16, 1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham BE (1999b) On drugs in sports in the aftermath of Flo-Jo’s death, Big Mac’s attack. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 23(3), 362–367

    Google Scholar 

  • Donati A (2005). Criminality in the International Doping Trade. World Anti-Doping Agency, Presentation. Available: http://www.playthegame.org/upload/sandro_donati_-_criminality_in_the_international_doping_trade.pdf. Accessed 25 July 2015

  • Fotheringham W (1996) Cycling: hour of pain, shame or glory. The Guardian, London, 14

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraleigh WP (1984) Performance-enhancing drugs in sport: the ethical issue. J Philos Sport XI:23–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner R (1989) On performance-enhancing substances and the unfair advantage argument. J Philos Sport XVI:59–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gayagay G, Yu B, Hambly B, Boston T, Hahn A, Celermajer DS, Trent RJ (1998) Elite endurance athletes and the ACE I allele – the role of genes in athletic performance. Hum Genet 1031:48–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelberg JN (1995) The lethal weapon: how the plastic football helmet transformed the game of football, 1939–1994. Bull Sci Technol Soc 155–6:302–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldspink G (2001) Gene expression in skeletal muscle. Biochem Soc Trans 30:285–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoberman JM (1992) Mortal engines: the science of performance and the dehumanization of sport. The Free Press, New York, Reprinted 2001, the Blackburn Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Hon O, Coumans B (2007) The continuing story of nutritional supplements and doping infractions. Br J Sports Med 41:800–805

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hummel RL, Foster GS (1986) A sporting chance: relationships between technological change & concepts of fair play in fishing. J Leis Res 181:40–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Inizan F (1994) Masters and slaves of time. Olympic Rev 320:306–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamsam C, Fu FH, Robbins PD, Evans CH (1997) Gene therapy in sports medicine. Sports Med 252:73–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine BD (2006) Should “Artificial” high altitude environments be considered doping? Scand J Med Sci Sports 16(5):297–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin J, Wu H, Tarr PT, Zhang C, Wu Z, Boss O, Michael LF, Puigserver P, Isotani E, Olson EN, Lowell BB, Bassel-Duby R, Spiegelmann BM (2002) Transcriptional co-activator PGC-1α drives the formation of slow-twitch muscle fibres. Nature 418:797–801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loland S, Murray TH (2007) The ethics of the use of technologically constructed high-altitude environments to enhance performances in sport. Scand J Med Sci Sports 17:193–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magdalinski T (2000) Performance technologies: drugs and Fastskin at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Media Int Australia 97:59–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinek V, Fu FH et al (2000) Gene therapy and tissue engineering in sports medicine. Phys Sportsmed 282. http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/02_00/huard.htm

  • Miah A (2000a) Chapter 27: Climbing upwards of climbing backwards? The technological metamorphoses of climbing and mountaineering. In: Messenger N, Patterson W, Brook D (eds) The science of climbing and mountaineering. Human Kinetics, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Miah A (2000b) The engineered athlete: human rights in the genetic revolution. Culture Sport Soc 33:25–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miah A (2000c) “New balls please”: tennis, technology, and the changing game. In: Haake SA, Coe AO (eds) Tennis science and technology. Blackwell, London, pp 285–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Miah A (2004) Genetically modified athletes: biomedical ethics, gene doping and sport. Routledge, London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery H, Marshall R, Hemingway H, Myerson S, Clarkson P, Dollery C, Hayward M, Holliman DE, Jubb M, World M, Thomas EL, Brynes AE, Saeed N, Barnard M, Bell JD, Prasad K, Rayson M, Talmud PJ, Humphries SE (1998) Human gene for physical performance. Nature 393:221–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery H, Clarkson P, Barnard M, Bell J, Brynes A, Dollery C, Hajnal J, Hemingway H, Mercer D, Jarman P, Marshall R, Prasad K, Rayson M, Saeed N, Talmud P, Thomas L, Jubb M, World M, Humphries S (1999) Angiotensin-converting-enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphism and response to physical training. Lancet 353(13):541–545

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munthe C (2000) Selected champions: making winners in the age of genetic technology. In: Tännsjö T, Tamburrini C (eds) Values in sport: elitism, nationalism, gender equality, and the scientific manufacture of winners. E & F.N. Spon, London/New York, pp 217–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray TH (1983) The coercive power of drugs in sports. Hastings Cent Rep 13(4):24–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray TH (1984) Drugs, sports, and ethics. In: Murray TH, Gaylin W, Macklin R (eds) Feeling good and doing better. Humana Press, T. Clifton, pp 107–126

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Murray TH (1986a) Guest editorial: drug testing and moral responsibility. Phys Sportsmed 1411:47–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray TH (1986b) Guest editorial: human growth hormone in sports: no. Phys Sportsmed 145:29

    Google Scholar 

  • Parens E (ed) (1998) Enhancing human traits: ethical and social implications, Hastings center studies in ethics. Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Science and Technology Select Committee (2006) New inquiry: human enhancement technologies in sport. Select Committee for Science and Technology, British Government, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Sekera MH, Ahrens BD et al (2005) Another designer steroid: discovery, synthesis, and detection of “madol” in urine. Rapid Commun Mass Spectom 19:781–784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svensson EC, Black HB, Dugger DL, Tripathy SK, Goldwasser E, Hao Z, Chu L, Leiden JM (1997) Long-term erythropoietin expression in rodents and non-human primates following intramuscular injection of a replication-defective adenoviral vector. Hum Gene Ther 815:1797–1806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweney M (2015) ‘Beach body ready’ ad banned from returning to tube, watchdog rules. The Guardian. Available Online http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/29/beach-body-ready-ad-faces-formal-inquiry-as-campaign-sparks-outrage. Accessed 1 May 2015

  • Templeton S.-K (2006) Footballers use babies for “repair kits.” The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved from http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article166119.ece

  • Tenner E (1996) Why things bite back: predicting the problems of progress. Fourth Estate, London

    Google Scholar 

  • The U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics (2002a) Session 4: enhancement 2: potential for genetic enhancements in sports. The President’s Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC. Hypertext document, available at http://www.bioethics.gov/200207/session4.html

  • The U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics (2002b) Sixth meeting: session 7: enhancement 5: genetic enhancement of muscle. The President’s Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC. Hypertext document, available at http://www.bioethics.gov/transcripts/sep02/session7.html

  • The U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) Beyond therapy: biotechnology and the pursuit of happiness. President’s Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • World Anti-Doping Agency (2005) The Stockholm declaration. World Anti-Doping Agency.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Anti-Doping Agency (2009) World Anti-Doping Code, Montreal WADA.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Anti-Doping Agency (2015) World anti-doping code. Prohibited classes of substances and prohibited methods

    Google Scholar 

  • World Anti-Doping Agency (2014) World Anti-Doping Code, WADA. Available at: https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/the-code/world-anti-doping-code. Accessed 25 July 2015

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andy Miah .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this entry

Cite this entry

Miah, A. (2016). Human Enhancement in Sports. In: Bainbridge, W., Roco, M. (eds) Handbook of Science and Technology Convergence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07052-0_85

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics