Ingenious: Robert Sparrow & Julian Savulescu - Issue 39: Sport
▻http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/ingenious-robert-sparrow--julian-savulescu
At least 120 athletes at the Rio Olympics were previously suspended for doping, The New York Times reported on Aug. 18. The suspended represented at least 63 of the 205 countries in the 2016 Olympics. When all was swum and run, 31 athletes who had previously been suspended for doping won medals in Rio. Despite the sanctions and drug tests that have been in place in sports organizations for years, cheating remains widespread. The drive for an extra edge is, after all, the whole point of competitive sports. Realizing that drive runs deep, philosopher Julian Savulescu (on the right in the photo above) has long argued that doping should be legal in sports. Legal training like running in high altitudes, he points out, boosts red blood cells in ways no different than EPO, a commonly used (...)