BIONIC BODIES, MODIFIED BODIES

Silvia Camporesi, docente di etica e integrità dello sport KU Leuven, membro Ethics Expert Advisory Board, WADA

Matija Mato Škerbić, docente di Bioetica e Etica Università di Zagrabia, presidente European Association for the Philosophy of Sport

Marco Cambiaghi, ricercatore e docente Università di Verona, collabora con Tuttoscienze e Salute de La Stampa

"Why are some advantages considered fair and part of the game, while others are deemed unfair and regulated? When Caster Semenya began competing, there were no rules preventing women with high testosterone levels from participating in sports. Today, that has changed, and high testosterone levels are now considered an unfair advantage. Do prosthetics give runners or long jumpers an advantage or disadvantage over athletes who don’t use assistive technology? The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allowed Oscar Pistorius to compete in the 2012 London Olympics. In 2015, German long jumper Markus Rehm leaped 8.40 meters at the Paralympic World Championships in Doha, Qatar—a distance that would have won him the gold medal at the London Olympics, ahead of Britain's Greg Rutherford. Now, with a personal best of 8.64 meters, Rehm has the desire to compete with the world's best. But he can't, because the sports federation requires him to prove that his prosthetics do not give him an advantage—a nearly impossible task. Who decides, and on what basis, when a disability becomes a super ability? Furthermore, biotechnologies and gene therapy can enhance performance capabilities. How do these developments affect the future of humanity and athletes? When does crossing a previously insurmountable limit become a matter of doping? This book critically examines the international policies regulating athlete participation in sports competitions. The goal is to initiate a new philosophical reflection on assistive and genetic technologies that enhance physical performance."