Slashdot Mirror


Cloned Horses Ok To Compete In Olympics

wisebabo writes with the news of a forward-thinking decision handed down by the Federation Equestre Internationale (reversing an earlier ban, so it's been on their minds) to not prohibit cloned horses from competing in the events it sanctions, including the Olympics. "Of course they'll still be restricted to the equestrian events (ha ha). One wonders if they'll be allowed to do the same in say, horse or dog racing. It'll then just come down to the ability of the jockeys I guess (or training). I wonder why they don't make all Olympic athletes use the same exact 'equipment' as their competitors. That would get rid of situations like with those super efficient swimsuits that were banned. Of course they really should return to the spirit of the original Games and compete naked. That would really improve ratings! (But it would make the winter games rather hazardous.) When do you think cloning athletes will become legal?" (Note to those who wish to enter more than one event: ultra-slippery swimsuits are back).

18 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Really bad ethics.... by way2trivial · · Score: 2

    nothing to prevent (short of lack of funds) trainers from cloning ten animals and taking greater risks with training because they have spares.

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:Really bad ethics.... by SJHillman · · Score: 2

      The same could be said of naturally bred horses. If you have enough money, you can just keep breeding the best together, weed out the unsuccessful ones and still have a whole lot of very good stock to train with plenty of "spares".

  2. I'd rather see changes to paralympics... by Maquis196 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How long before the paralympics become some kind of cyborg olympics? It's like the ban of drugs and performance boosters on athletes. We all want to see what records can be broken, just how far can we push the human body (within limits, I don't want to see lives destroyed for a record).

    The olympics has become (or was it always in it's modern form?) a corporate circus. So let's go next step and merge formula 1 with it. /A Londoner not looking forward to public transport soon

    1. Re:I'd rather see changes to paralympics... by rednip · · Score: 2

      Londoner not looking forward to public transport soon

      I lived in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics and everyone predicted a traffic nightmare, but the reality couldn't be farther from the truth. Traffic was a breeze. Many workers took vacations, some to volunteer, others to watch, but many left town altogether. The out-of-towners hit the public transit a little hard, but the only stations really overcrowded were the ones closest to the venues. While it's likely that your fears are misguided, in the end it might be the perfect time to rent a car and get to know the surface streets of London a little better.

      --
      The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
    2. Re:I'd rather see changes to paralympics... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Frankly, I'd love to see a competition where athletes use whatever enhancements they can. Pump yourself up with drugs, get blood transfusions from fifty people before you start the race, bring on the cyborgs an eunuchs! No holds barred.

      Sure, some hearts may just simply explode, but the Olympics stopped being about sportsmanship a long time ago, so why keep up pretenses.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    3. Re:I'd rather see changes to paralympics... by Kjella · · Score: 3, Insightful

      bring on the cyborgs

      We already have those sports, instead of running we have cycling and formula one, depending on whether you allow engines or not. They're just not fancy enough to be called cyborgs. What's the point of seeing how far a spring-loaded jumper can be catapulted in the high jump? We already have human cannonball shows. Sure the Olympics have turned into a perversion of itself, but sports is a lot more than that and I'd hate to see kids and youth thinking it's all about the drugs and turning themselves into freaks of nature.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  3. Awesome! by sootman · · Score: 2

    > I wonder why they don't make all Olympic athletes
    > use the same exact 'equipment' as their competitors.

    That'd be frickin' sweet! Like IROC but with horses!

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  4. Re:If you're going to ban clones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    everyone should have a cloned horse, all from the same source.

    And no one should copy the source, of course
    That is, of course, unless the horse is released as open source!

    (It was either Mr. Ed or Queen Chrysalis, and since we all know there was only one Matrix movie, I went with Mr. Ed. What can I say, I wanted this day to be perfect.)

  5. No point in cloned athletes (at the moment) by mister2au · · Score: 2

    Why clone people (even if it was possible) when it would take 20-25 years for them become (potentially) champion athletes

    It's much easier to illegally train (ie drug) unknown athletes for a few years, untested by drug authorities, before making a enormous debut into competition.

    History says this works quite well ... Off the top of my head:
    - germans in the 70s
    - US track in the 80s
    - cyclists in the 90s
    - chinese swimmers in the 00s

    and dare i suggest the current dominance of Jamaican sprinters who have 5 of the fatest 7 male sprinters

  6. Re:Not only horses and swimsuit ... by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 2

    ...but horses *in* swimsuits!

    And presumably new bicycles designs...

    The equestrian cycling events are my favorite, but there's always room for improvement, such as preventing their tails from getting caught up in the rear wheel or the gears.

    $RANDOM_PONY_REFERENCE

  7. Re:Maybe all should be cloned? by k(wi)r(kipedia) · · Score: 2

    They should clone the jockeys also. So we can find out who among them trained the hardest. While at it, while not clone all athletes, so we can have the Clone Games.

  8. Re:Really bad ethics....(edit correction) by way2trivial · · Score: 2

    cloning one animal ten times, and taking chances with the training of the clones.,
    because if you take a risk that breaks a leg, you shoot it and have 9 more.

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  9. Before you dare, check their biological passport by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Currently athletes planning on participating in the Olympics are required to participate in biological passport program and be available 24/7 year round for testing.

    Wikipedia Biological Passport

  10. Re:Dupe! by vlm · · Score: 2

    (insert theoretical creepiness in some sports here)

    The gymnastics chicks are already fully pedo bear compatible, so at least with some events its not like they could possibly get any creepier. I dated a gymnast chick in high school and she was informed that she was looking "too old" to compete, because the judges only like the preteen look and she looked like a normal girl her age. So she was thinking about going into coaching because she didn't look pre-teen enough anymore yet she was pretty skilled. Some events are already maxed out freaky icky and completely unappealing so at least with some events its not like it could get any worse.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  11. Drop all restrictions by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally, I wish they'd drop ALL restrictions.
    Let's see what the best labs, piles of money, human ingenuity, and OCD athletes can accomplish.

    I want to see sprinters winning the 10k in under 10m times with spliced cheetah tendons, and hyperoxygenated shrew blood.
    I want to see swimmers with shark skin, webbed everything, and re-plumbed breathing holes out the top of their head doing the 1500m without taking 2nd breath.

    Screw it, it's all about $$ anyway, and these athletes are already essentially sacrificing a normal existence for their sport. Let's see what we can accomplish when we REALLY try.

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Drop all restrictions by TheLink · · Score: 2

      All restrictions? So you'd be fine with "runners" driving/flying high speed vehicles? Or killing each other?

      No restrictions and no rules = no sport, no game. Seems to me what you really want are different restrictions.

      So you need to think harder about why your restrictions would be better than the current restrictions.

      --
  12. Re:Dupe! by Golddess · · Score: 2

    Uh, sports competitors almost always have great bodies.

    I'm guessing this is in response to this line?

    Women's swimming would be merely a contest between flat-chested completely hairless females, while men's swimming would involve recently-castrated completely hairless males.

    If so, I think AliasMarlowe's point was that since you don't have clothing to streamline an athlete's body, only athletes that are naturally streamlined would be presented by their respective countries. That means athletes with big breasts, testicles, and/or penises* would be out, since those parts would increase drag.

    *While AliasMarlowe only mentioned castration, they also mention requiring a genetic test to determine an athlete's gender, so I suspect they were including the removal of the penis.

    --
    "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
  13. Jockey Club rule by Animats · · Score: 2

    For an industry which used to (and for all I know still does) prohibit artificial insemination, that cloning should even be considered seems crazy.

    That's just a Jockey Club rule for thoroughbred racehorses. For other breeds, artificial insemination is common. Horse breeding involves only a small number of stallions; most stallions are gelded and never bred.