The abuse of scientific research will surely not stop at the misuse of drugs. Barely a major sporting event goes by without some athletes being banned or stripped of their medals because they were found to be doping themselves.
However, this race to be the best also involves the abuse of biomedical research by athletes and their trainers to gain an unfair advantage for decades, professional sports have been tainted by doping-that is, the use of substances such as erythropoietin (EPO), steroids or growth hormones, which were originally developed to treat human diseases but have also been used to boost the performance of healthy athletes. This involves not only designing faster bobsleds, racing bikes or shark-skin swimsuits but also pushing the physical abilities of athletes by using the latest medical and biological research. Not surprisingly, professional sports now resemble high-tech races in which any technological trick is used to gain milliseconds to set the next record.
Today, most athletes run, jump or swim not only for fame and honour but also for money-after all, a gold medal is the ticket to lucrative advertising contracts. More than two thousand years ago, naked athletes competed at the Olympic games in ancient Athens for eternal fame and an olive branch.
