What are the chances of us - normal humans - winning a medal? You have to be a 'mutant' to stand a chance, unless you find a clever way to beat the anti-doping testing or maybe a mixture of both. How about bionic limbs? There is growing evidence that Olympic athletes carry a set of 'power genes', like the EPOR mutation  for oxygen carrying capacity or the 577R allele within the ACTN3 gene or the 'T' variant of the ACE gene. Is the next step gene-doping -- enhancing performance by adding or modifying genes?

To make the Olympics fair the competitors in the future will need to submit their DNA genome sequence (this is becoming cheaper by the day) so that the genetic advantages can be assessed and each given the appropriate 'handicap' to make it a level playing field.

It was fortunate that there was an International Film Festival on in town and I was able to avoid some of the inane warblings of the sports commentators on TV.