Science is evolving exponentially these days, consequently so is Sport Science. The line between disciplines is becoming blurred as industrial engineers gift us GPS technology, law experts guide our governance of sport and clothing manufacturers aid us in finally reaching the sub-two hour marathon we hadn’t projected to reach in another 10 years. As sport becomes a feeding ground for other disciplines, more exploratory techniques are being tested to see if they can be applied to athletes. One such technique is Genetic Screening.
Everybody’s genetic data is known as their genome. Our genetic data determine everything about us physically. Thus, your genome is a ‘how to’ book on producing YOU! We already know our genetics help determine our eye color, hair color, height, muscle fiber type, and whether we develop certain diseases. But what if our genetics can tell us information that can help create better, healthier athletes?
The first area which should look is the one with the best evidence, to help us set the scene! And so we will begin by discussing a genetic disorder known as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), you may have heard of sudden athlete syndrome, and well HCM is the bad guy in this situation! HCM causes an unexplained muscle growth in the heart which affects how the heart functions. Cardiac screenings are commonly implemented with athletes to check for the condition but are time-extensive in squads and are also expensive-expensive. GS involves an oral swab and thus takes little time and is cheap, i.e yes please. HCM occurs due to genetic mutations and research has identified over 1,400 mutations which can detect HCM. As a result, GS may highly useful method for health screening athletes for HCM.
But where else may it be used in the future? Emerging research is looking at using GS to determine whether an athlete will be successful in a sport. This is predominantly around endurance performance and its corresponding sports, and the research so far looks postitive for this methodlogy. However, research for performance in other componenets of fitness such as strength and power are far less successful so far!
GS has also been investigated as a screening tool for predisposition to certain injuries, such as concussion and anterior-cruciate ligament tears. While initial evidence shows the possiblility of this tool in the future with certain genes recognised as linked with predisposition, there is still a lot of work to be done as the method raises more questions than answers.
So as things stand, GS could be great for athlete health screenings, and future research may even make it applicable to talent identificiation and injury screening. But to quote one of my favourite movies ever, “With great power comes great responsibility”. GS poses a number of ethical and moral dilemmas which may challenge its use going forward.
Teams and sporting organisations collect a hell of a lot of athlete data, like literally a mind-boggling amount, modestly referred to as ‘big data’. GDPR has tried to protect this data but questions are often raised over who owns this data? The athlete or the collector? And wheres the limit to the use of this data? If teams are enabled to screen for injury risk then athletes with a predisposition (who may never actually get said injury!) may lose new contracts or fail medicals during transfers if GS is implemented. You’d also have to ask yourself, if you were one of these athletes, would your behavior change if you knew you were at an increased risk of an injury? Would a rugby player put their body on the line to clear out a ruck if they had a predisposition to concussion? Or would mammy let her son/daughter play contact sport in the first place?
One final truth is that we love sport because its unpredictable, from; Leicester winning the Premier League in the 2015-2016 season, to England beating the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup earlier this year, to the historic Buster Douglas KO’ing Mike Tyson in 1990 as the 42/1 underdog. If GS could work, it would give us a far greater overview of an athletes ability than anything else available right now. And eventually, we would be able know for sure who has the greatest endurance ability, or who is the genetically determined best athlete for their sport. In a weird way, even injuries help add a layer of unpredictability to how a teams season may go. GS would strip sport of its entertainment factor, making sport a formality, and we would be at a loss of one of the greatest things to exist one this earth.
Intrigued? Check out some cool videos on genetic screening breaking the idea of race and some recent articles on genetic screening in athletes below:
- On white supremacy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvS2gjMMXBQ
- On the concept of nationality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw7FhU-G1_Q
- Introducing GS https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-genetic-testing/
- Another use of GS in athletes: https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ioc-president-bach-reveals-genetic-drug-testing-may-be-ready-for-olympics-1.4073368
- On how to use GS to destroy childhood: https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/chinese-parents-test-dna-to-check-if-kids-will-become-prodigies-1.608419
- On the use of GS in sport: https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/will-genetic-screening-of-athletes-change-sport-as-we-know-it
Sport Science Simplified 