Olympics, Paralympics will they merge one day?

Will technology level the playing field?

US Athlete Jonathon Gore

I’ll start by saying I’m not an expert in the field, and this short article is meant to inspire you to go search for more in depth materials on the topic, as it did for me. Finally the sports are back, finally we can continue dreaming, finally we can break new records! Sport is never about the speed the person runs, or the 11 people chasing a ball — sport is about mental strength, it’s about the ability and willingness to make an impact, to leave a mark, and it’s sooo hard. Those that succeed are not only physically trained, they mainly have the mental power and determination to push themselves to their limit, which is always the hardest to build.

The Olympics are the most prestigious sport competition in the world, it leaves no one apathetic to it, it can spark interest in anyone. It is amazing to look at athletes that for thousands of years are trying to break that record, be it a personal one or a world record.

Wheelchair rugby at Tokyo Paralympics 2020 — Australia vs Denmark

Around the Olympics and Paralympics there are always two major controversial discussions, from one hand doping, and from the other hand, the amazing prosthetics and techniques of the Paralympians, which enable those with impairments to prove the limits in life are meant to be broken, no matter what. But where is the limit or the distinction between the Olympics and Paralympics?

We all witnessed the amazing story of Oscar Pistorius, who used prosthetic running blades, who fought and succeeded to be a part of the Olympics competitions. Wow, we were all amazed and shared a tear! Unfortunately that story ended up badly…as we all know, but that’s not the topic. That story should not stop us from thinking about what might come later on, and the possibilities that an augmented athlete could open. If a person with no legs could run and compete with people with legs, maybe one day those two will merge? Should they?

Irmgard Bensusan running in track field

Of course some separation in sport is important in order to start with an ‘even playing field’ for a ‘fair competition’, for example in boxing athletes are separated by weight class. But what about when the body structure is different such as with prosthetics, will they even the playing field? Some will say this should not happen and we need to keep the separation but maybe the Pistorius story teaches us that technology will close this gap? I do not have a clear answer, I’ll let you decide.

I will just draw few questions to leave you with, so you make your own decision:

• We as a company are asked all the time if technology adds to social inequality, how does that work in sports?
• In the last Olympics there has been a lot of talk about some new shoes that apparently made the athletes perform better, is that an issue?
• In this year’s competitions we were introduced to skateboarding, isn’t that human enhancement? People need that piece of technology to perform, does that mean that sport is mainly the ability to dare doing it? Isn’t that the main essence of life?
• Should we one day see people with prosthetic arms swimming along those born with arms? Is operating a prosthetic arm actually easier than training a muscle for a competition?

Maybe some of these questions are a big No No to some of us, and maybe those are just psychological barriers, time will tell. Now we wait another 3 years for the next Olympics — all the athletes that are training hard to get there, no matter what shape or status they are in, they all have a dream.

Maisie Summers-Newton of ParalympicsGB celebrates winning the gold in the SM6 women’s 200m individual medley.

Links for readers to read more:

• ‘Some tech and drug enhancements are banned as unfair, but ironically they could end up leveling the playing field.’ By Alex Pearlman & Illustration by Josh Cochran https://neo.life/2021/03/the-case-for-more-doping-in-the-olympics/
• Miah, A. (2011) Physical Enhancement: The State of the Art, in Savulescu, J., Meulen, R.T., Kahane, G. Enhancing Human Capacities, Oxford, Wiley”Blackwell, pp.266"273. http://static1.squarespace.com/static/563face7e4b06c325c739ba9/563fba32e4b0f206db994af5/563fba27e4b0f206db994657/1447016999389/Miah2011PhysicalEnhancementWeb.pdf?format=original

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