Every time an athlete breaks a world record setting new standards of athletic prowess, the boundaries of sports performance in the landscape of the evolving sports ecosystem are redefined. As humans, every time we witness a fellow human push their physical and mental strengths to a state where no human has been before, we are astounded by their more-than-human abilities. All the greatest athletes of all time have taken their bodies to uncharted territories- to places where no one’s taken their bodies before.
Michael Phelps, the swimming legend swam to victory with every stroke leading to the phenomenal feat of winning 28 Olympic medals. He is the most decorated Olympian of all time till now. One can’t help but wonder how did the athlete and his body achieve the unachievable. For Phelps, it is said that it has been possible because perhaps he is the closest a human has ever come to physically being a fish. Post his success at the Beijing Olympics, a sketch of Phelps in the style of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man highlighting his physical attributes caused a sensation. Phelps, ‘the flying fish’ is perhaps the closest a human has ever come to physically being a fish. While this is not the sole factor contributing to his dominance in the pool, it certainly set the means for his never-ending physical prime.
With technology advancing and athletes having potent new tools like synthetic implants to improve their performance, one might foresee a future where with all these enhancements every athlete meets the standards of the Vitruvian man of their respective sport. But we really need to ask ourselves are we willing and prepared to transform professional athletes into something more than human? While the use of technology for therapeutic and enhancement goals (within the human realm) has changed the game for many athletes and that kind of interaction with technology is being welcomed, a transhuman improvement raises questions on the legitimacy of it- is there something called technological doping?
The important distinction between intervention for enhancement and transhuman improvement opens the door to the crucial problem of categorisation and regulation of these technological interventions to ensure fairness. Difficult decisions about the integration of these new augmentations into the sport await sports regulators. Should there be an entirely separate league for the new generation of able-bodied cyborg athletes? Does the answer to these complications lie in effectively embracing these athletes? Or does the concern of the transformation of the entire essence of sport not outweigh the exciting new picture that a possible hi-tech league paints?
While the reach of technology to transform a human athlete into a transhuman athlete is still being researched and the concerns continue to hold ground, every new augmentation pushes the rules for technology and sports. The contours of rules will be retraced thereby re-sketching the games. Thrilling new sports await us. Who knows one day our future generations might be rooting for real Quidditch players one day!
Gloss