Is Olympic gold in your DNA?  Sports performance depends on many factors

It's the second week of the Olympic Games in Paris. Can genetic tests predict if someone will make it to the Olympics and will be successful? 

Alexander Hoischen, professor of Genomic Technologies:

'Dozens of commercial companies claim they can do this, but that’s nonsense. Sports performance depends on many factors. Genetic predisposition undoubtedly plays a role, but we’re talking about thousands of genes that might be involved. There’s no scientific evidence for it.

There are some extreme examples relevant to sports. For instance, an exceptionally muscular boy was found to have a mutation in the myostatin gene. His mother was a professional athlete, and other family members were abnormally strong. This genetic variant can be advantageous, for instance in strength sports, but it’s very rare.

Among the Bajau, a group of sea nomads in Southeast Asia, there’s an interesting genetic variation. They can hold their breath for a long time and dive as deep as seventy meters without scuba gear. The genetic variant they have is related to the size of the spleen. The spleen contracts during a dive, releasing oxygen-rich red blood cells into the bloodstream. The larger the spleen, the more oxygen is available. This is beneficial for endurance sports. Unfortunately for us Europeans, this variant is not present outside Southeast Asia.'

• Want to know more about these subjects? Click on the buttons below for more news.

  News homepage news & media