Becoming Posthuman Athletes

Becoming Posthuman – Sport and Genetically Modified Athletes

Becoming posthuman, there are many theories and explanations to explain this term, some of these include: posthumanism is a hypothetical future generation of beings whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards. Another definition of the term posthuman is that it is a person of unprecedented physical, intellectual and psychological capacity, self-programming, self constituting and possibly immortal. It has even been suggested that posthumaness is a rejection of what makes us human, rejection in that we are not happy to be simply human anymore. My own understanding of posthuman derives from the first definition of posthuman, that it suggests an advancement and progression past that, of what seems capable of the human being.

Posthumanism can be used with reference to a wide range of discourses, including medicine, art, intelligence and even death. In medicine, issues concern
In particular this article dealt directly with drugs testing and the problems surrounding it. To emphasise a negative side to the process of testing, this article using the examples of some athletes. Mark Richardson tested positive for a substance called nandrolone. He was suspended by UK Athletics pending a disciplinary hearing. Later the charges were dropped due to evidence gathered by a research team and presented at the hearing. This evidence suggested that the athlete might not have taken the substance deliberately. "The evidence suggests you can be positive without doing anything illegal. It could be a combination of taking legal dietary substances and exercise." Herein lies the rub, the fly within the ointment. Drugs testing within sport is not perfect and this is an example of that. There are many shades of grey within the world of anti-doping and the drugs testing that arises from