To what lengths should an athlete go to make their dreams come true? In an article written in The New Yorker Magazine “Man and Superman”, Malcolm Gladwell examines the question of how elite sports can be fair competitions when athletes themselves have such an “ uneven set of genetic endowments and natural advantages.” (Gladwell, 2013) Gladwell reviews a book called “ The Sports Gene”, in which David Epstein tells the stories of, “ all of the ways that the greatest athletes are different from the rest of us.” Gladwell also discusses “ The Secret Race” an autobiography written by Tyler Hamilton to show what athletes will do who are not naturally talented or genetically gifted. Mr. Gladwell is able to show both sides of the argument as athletes try to decide what is an acceptable and fair way for them to compete. In the first book, “ The Sports Gene”, David Epstein travels to Finland to visit with a man named Eero Mantyranta. This man has a rare genetic mutation which causes his bone marrow to produce too many red blood cells. Mantyranta has used this ability to create more red blood cells to his advantage as he competes as a cross- country skier. Epstein describes what a physical challenge cross- country skiing is, and even so, Mantyranta was able to compete in three Winter Olympic Games and won seven medals.

Gladwell explores the other side of the question that some athletes face when deciding what they can do to improve their skills. In comparison, Tyler Hamilton writes in his autobiography m “ The Secret Race”, that he thought of himself as an underdog in the cycling world, so he had to find ways to physically transform himself so he could compete at the highest levels of the sport. When he joined Lance Armstrong on the U.S. Postal Services racing team, Hamilton learned about things such as hormone EPO and blood transfusions which increased the production of red blood cells so they could enhance their performances. Hamilton regrets using performance enhancing drugs. He writes, “EPO granted the ability to suffer more; to push yourself farther and harder than you would ever imagined, in both training and racing.” ( Hamilton, 2012)

Most people want sports to be fair for everyone who competes, but the author brings up the question of what is acceptable for athletes to do if they think they can gain an advantage over others. Major League Baseball has had to deal with this problem when players were using drugs to improve their bodies and their playing. These drugs made a noticeable difference but it was not fair to the other players. It is interesting to consider using science to gain an advantage, but if an athletes is superior because of their genetics or where they live, then they are lucky and the other athletes have to work harder. Trying to even things out by taking drugs or doing things that are not natural to their bodies are not the things that will make them winners. Any athletes looking for inspiration should read the story about an athlete who was awarded a Purple Heart and a Gold Medal and they will appreciate the talents that they have.

An article written by US Anti-Doping Agency describes when a twenty-eight year old Navy Lieutenant, named Bradley Snyder, was stationed in Afghanistan and was hurt in an explosion in an Afghan valley. He was an explosive ordinance disposal officer, so he had thought about the possibility of something terrible happening, like a brain injury or even death, but he was not prepared to become blind. He survived the IED exploding five feet in front of him, but he lost both of his eyes. The article explains that it was not only a miracle that he survived, but in just a week and a half after the blast, Snyder was on a treadmill and at three weeks he ran a 5k with two glass eyes. Six weeks later he started to swim again like he had done at the Naval Academy. He was contacted by the Association for Blind Athletes and soon after that he was swimming at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. (USADA, 2015) Snyder said, “ I really had no idea what was coming… I just wanted out of the hospital.” Snyder went on to compete in the 2012 Paralympics in London and on September 7, which was exactly one year after the explosion, he won a gold medal.

Snyder is training for the Paralympics in Rio in 2016 and is an ambassador for True Sport, which is a community- based movement stressing positive values and life lessons learn through athletics. He supports sportsmanship, fair play, and preserving a level playing field. ( True Sport, 2015) He is proud of being a clean athlete saying, “ I have been clean my entire life, I always will be. Otherwise, everything I have done, everything I have achieved athletically, it would all be meaningless. It takes courage to compete clean.”(Snyder, 2015)

Although there are instances where athletes feel it is necessary to find any way they can to compete on an even level with other athletes, I believe that the only way to do this is by training hard and using the talent that you were given at birth. The courage and determination of an athlete like Lieutenant Snyder should be an example for all athletes to aim for. As stated by Snyder, “ In athletics, courage is taking a risk, doing it the right way and digging deeper than you thought you could.” ( USADA, 2015)

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Man And Superman – The New Yorker.” The New Yorker. 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.

“A Profile in Courage: Brad Snyder | USADA.” U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). 2015. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.

Epstein, David J. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. Print.

Hamilton, Tyler, and Daniel Coyle. The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour De France. Print.