Scary Thought: Engineering Ultimate Athlete

It sounds like something out of science fiction, or shrouded in a darkened 1970s East German laboratory. Richard Bergman knows all this.

“The last thing I want is to sound like some mad scientist,” said Bergman, chairman of the USC physiology department.

Still, it is out there, looming menacingly over the future of athletic performance - genetic engineering.

With each passing day, science comes closer to identifying the full mysteries of DNA and the genetic code. When it does, and it will soon, the possibility becomes very real that genes could be altered to produce the super athlete.

“In the next 5 to 10 years, we will have some idea what the genes are that favor one or more specific abilities,” Bergman said. “We could then either look for people who have those genes and train them, or frighteningly … even try to design genes or engineer the genetics of people to be able to do these things.”

Whether those with specific genes are sought out and trained - either for sports, music or whatever - or the genes are actually re-engineered, Bergman fears for the future.

“There’s always been an implied relationship between genetic choice and totalitarianism that is quite inconsistent with what we consider to be the social democratic principals we try and live by today,” he said.

“It’s the fear of the unknown. What good is sports if it turns out to be a genetic competition as opposed to a sports competition?”

Bergman said if society accepts genetic engineering, its practical use would not be far behind identifying the genes.

“If society does accept it, one can estimate conservatively that in three decades it will be possible to do such a thing,” he said.

Even if genetics did not affect the future of sports performance, the medical and pharmacology world will continue to have a major impact on its development.

“Drugs are the unknown factor,” said Bob Girandola, professor of exercise physiology at USC. “Just the last two or three years with this creatine, it’s created a tremendous amount of interest. It looks like about 50 percent of the athletes seem to benefit from it.

“Who knows, in five years something else may come out that offers athletes improvement in certain type of athletic performances. There’s always something that comes out of nowhere.”

Said Anita De Frantz, vice president of the International Olympic Committee: “The people doing the drugs that are performance enhancing always seem to be working on the next compound to try and trick any doping tests. The challenge of the future, is to have ethical sports.”