The article discusses the role that genetics has in one's athletic abilities. With the olympics occurring, most viewers are probably wondering how these professional athletes became so gifted at their sports. A lot of the time it is because of long days of practice but sometimes it can be due to ones genetics. The article mentions one athlete who won 7 medals in the olympics had a similar training regime and one of the only differences was found in his DNA. His family had a mutation that increased the oxygen carrying abilities of their red blood cells by 20-25%, which causes a performance boost. Both genetics and environment play a role in athleticism but sometimes people are just lucky with what genes they're dealt.
This article makes me reflect on how people usually think mutations are a bad thing but this just goes to show they have their advantages. Mutations in our genes are important for evolving and should not be considered a negative trait.
Genetics really do come a long way and to understand each individual. Not only do athletics take the time in order to practice each day to improve their oxygen intake and endurance. But it is interesting how the oxygen enhance is also a mutation that can be passed genetically. It is a way to few not all mutations are harmful and beneficial for some. Now, the next topic is, will this mutation be input into athletes who do not have the gene? It will be interesting when more find out and if they pay to take the risk and advantage.
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