After Olympics, Rio is altered if not reborn. Clay Dillow on how hosting the Olympics is a terrible investment. Here’s an idea: Hold the Olympics in multiple cities at once. The Olympic spirit is unbridled, rabid nationalism: The Games succeed because they indulge precisely what they claim to transcend — the world’s basest instinct for tribalism. Gene Demby interviews Antonio Sotomayor, author of The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico, on how Monica Puig’s gold medal complicates the argument for Puerto Rico’s statehood. Ana Swanson on why bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists, and other things the Olympics teaches us about human emotions.
Can record-breaking race times ever represent the glory of sports? Alex Traub on the quest to run a marathon in under two hours. Peter Aldhous on why track-and-field stars don’t set world records like they used to (but swimmers do): Many world records in athletics have stood for 20 years or more — in most events, say sports scientists, top performers have already reached the limits of human biology. We are nowhere close to the limits of athletic performance: Stephen Hsu on how genetic engineering will bring us new Bolts and Shaqs. Should we allow a doping free-for-all? Philosophers Julian Savulescu and Robert Sparrow debate the ethics of performance enhancement.
