Recently the world went nuts over Steroid use in professional baseball, and there was talk of marking the record books with Asterisks to note players who were using modern medicine to their advantage.
I get the concern. Steroids allow for players to bulk up faster and easier, and recover from injury faster. Still where does the line get drawn? There was a time when certain injuries were career ending, but now can be healed with surgery. And then there are stories like this:
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius will compete at the Olympic Games after he was named in both the individual 400m and the South Africa 4x400m relay squad for London 2012.
The four-time Paralympic Games gold medalist won a silver medal as part of South Africa’s 4x400m relay at the World Championships in Daegu last year, although he was left out of the line-up for the final…He will become the first Paralympian to compete in track and field at the able bodied Olympics.
Far enough back in history, not having one, let alone two functional legs was simply a death sentence, prosthesis allowed injured and people with congenital defects to live a limited life. Now we have a guy who’s competing with the best runners in the world who is missing both of his legs.
Frankly I see no point in fighting against the tide. Let the best man win, and part of humanity is advanced technology. The Asterisk is simply the mark of progress.