Andy Miah in The Globe and Mail

Like Prof. Mureika, Prof. Miah, a lecturer in media, bioethics and cyber-culture, thinks that the idea of a “natural” record is artificial or obsolete.

“We have to start again with thinking through human limits. Rather than see them in isolation, understand them as functioning in collaboration with technology. Enhancing the performance of athletes in this way should not be seen as cheating, but a fundamental part of what sports are all about.

“In fact, these [supposed natural] limits have already been passed. A middle-distance runner’s achievement takes place on a fine-tuned running track with space-age running shoes.”

If the progress of records is itself important, “then it is not morally bad for athletes to ‘cheat’ nature,” Prof. Miah reasons.

In fact, he offers on the Internet (http://www.GMathletes.net) an argument for genetically modified athletes, suggesting that cheating via doping raises more moral and health concerns than the improvement of performance via genetic modification.