To open discussion for the senior year of TOK, let's continue a conversation started toward the end of class today about a prominent and current issue. It has been alleged that some members of the Chinese women's gymnastic team do not meet the minimum age requirement of 16. How can age be determined? Is it a matter of what is printed on someone's passport? Should the Olympic committee have access to birth records to verify age?
We discussed briefly the possibilities of medical testing. One person in class mentioned the study of teeth used in crime scene investigations. Yet another person said that his mother, a doctor, has observed that the physiology of athletes is considerably changed by their training. Is medical analysis even feasible in this situation? Is there a kind of medical testing of athletes that would reveal accurate biological age?
Still yet another person mentioned the differing physiologies of people from different ethnic backgrounds. Are there ethnic specific benchmarks for determining age? Is there a universal test that would apply to all human beings for determining age?
Although it may seem obvious to some, why does this issue matter at all? In what way does it matter if members of any Olympic team are dishonest about any piece of personal information? Why does the world at large, comprised of people from vastly different backgrounds, seem to be united in the idea that age falsification in the Olympics is wrong?
Finally, is Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian of all time? In the 4x100 relay that brought Phelps his second gold medal of this Olympics, Jason Lezak beat Alain Bernard of France in the final leg, yet Bernard beat Lezak in a later race. How does one determine greatness of athletic accomplishment? Is it sheer number of medals? In that case, the United States has fielded the greatest athletes, for we are ahead in the medals race as of this posting. Yet China, in second place, has more gold medals.
Let's hear what you have to say!
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Concerning your question about the greatest athlete, I think we have tended to measure greatness with awards and medals. Similarly with Usain Bolt, he has been given a lot of attention because of his achievements in his 3 races. However, it is strange that one event didn't get as much attention as it maybe should have. This year the American Bryan Clay won the decathlon for the United States. Isn't that the event that requires the most athletic ability with its mulitiple events? He easily one as he only had to complete in the final event to achieve olympic gold. I think medals, awards, and records are simply representations of an athlete's greatness yet they cannot ultimately define whether the athlete is the best. In addition I don't think you can go as far as to say that one athlete is the best as there are so many sports and talents in the world of athletics. The title of greatest athelte or olympian is purely subjective.
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