4 ms·

I think it's actually possible for ie bolt to be beating them without peds, I just think it isn't meaningful. Many peds (ie testosterone) are just extra dosage

I think it's actually possible for ie bolt to be beating them without peds, I just think it isn't meaningful. Many peds (ie testosterone) are just extra dosage of something your body produces anyways, or cause your body to increase it's rate of some metabolic process. There is a lot of variance across people anyways: perhaps Bolt just produces an exceptionally high amount of testosterone naturally. In your example, it's not that it is impossible for people without supplemental test to compete with people that have it, it's that it's impossible for someone with dramatically lower test to compete with people that have it, regardless of whether they got it naturally or by supplementation. I would think that for sports to be as fair as possible, the real answer would be not to forbid people from supplementing, but instead to pick some acceptable level of beneficial metabolic processes and let everyone get themselves to that. Obviously that's a bit of a crazy idea and is not likely to happen, though.

spaetzleesser 6y ago
"the real answer would be not to forbid people from supplementing, but instead to pick some acceptable level of beneficial metabolic processes and let everyone get themselves to that." that's basically how a lot of doping testing works. They don't know where the testerone comes from but assume that people will be within a certain range. In cycling they called Bjarne Riis "Mr 50%" because his hematocrite level was always exactly at the maximum allowed level. Read Tyler Hamilton's book. It's a good read and gives a lot of insight into how doping works.
hcurtiss 6y ago
I agree with this. What's interesting to me is when you start viewing athletics as a proxy for an innate quality like endogenous testosterone, the sport loses a lot of the romance. Of course, raw athleticism (strength/speed/agility) carries more weight in some sports than others.
- spaetzleesser 6y ago
  “ athletics as a proxy for an innate quality like endogenous testosterone,” That’s what top sports is. It’s people who won the genetic lottery and then also worked hard.

spaetzleesser 6y ago

"the real answer would be not to forbid people from supplementing, but instead to pick some acceptable level of beneficial metabolic processes and let everyone get themselves to that." that's basically how a lot of doping testing works. They don't know where the testerone comes from but assume that people will be within a certain range. In cycling they called Bjarne Riis "Mr 50%" because his hematocrite level was always exactly at the maximum allowed level. Read Tyler Hamilton's book. It's a good read and gives a lot of insight into how doping works.

hcurtiss 6y ago

I agree with this. What's interesting to me is when you start viewing athletics as a proxy for an innate quality like endogenous testosterone, the sport loses a lot of the romance. Of course, raw athleticism (strength/speed/agility) carries more weight in some sports than others.

spaetzleesser 6y ago
“ athletics as a proxy for an innate quality like endogenous testosterone,” That’s what top sports is. It’s people who won the genetic lottery and then also worked hard.