The premise of the Olympics is to measure and reward the greatest human ability at various skills or sports. Modern pharmacology offers many substances identified as potentially beneficial to an athlete - meaning they give an unfair advantage to a competitor - the World Anti-Doping Agency provides a nine page handout identifying substances for which an athlete can be disqualified. With so much pressure on the athletes and so much money for sponsorships on the line, there are substantial reasons to cheat for those who are less sporting.

That doesn't mean there aren't other ways to help athletes reach or maintain their potential. In addition to regular training and hiring the best coaches, athletes also use the services of dieticians, massage therapists, sleep counselors, hydration specialists and gait analysis professionals in order to smooth every bump in their lifestyle, conditioning and performance. Some athletes even choose to sleep in a chamber that mimics high-altitude air quality to increase performance. And as modern research enables more experiments finding ways to benefit athletes that aren't cheating, by eliminating hurdles that keep athletes from reaching their peak performance, we'll hear of more bizarre - and questionable - methods athletes will use to enhance their skills.

Uzbekistan thinks they've found another way. The Atlantic reports how Uzbekistan want to use genetic testing to identify Olympic level athletics. Rustam Muhamedov, the director of Uzbekistan's Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry genetics laboratory, has a team working towards a set of 50 genes he believes can help identify the giftedness necessary to excel in Olympic activities. The system he plans is to use these 50 genes to identify a child's best sport for children who dream of training towards Olympic level athletics. Not that the World Anti-Doping Agency is comfortable with this. They fear gene doping is the next form of cheating they will need to identify and detect in order to maintain a level playing field.

Given the complexity of the human genome and how different genes interact, it's more likely to take decades of top-level research to identify gene combinations able to create the required physical and mental characteristics. And this is before we consider the nature vs. nurture argument, especially when attempting to forecast mental development.

That said, research does show common traits among athletes in some sports. Sprinters, as an example, tend to have foot bones around 6.2 percent longer than non-sprinters. Well, that seems simple enough. Just identify the gene for foot length, right? Well, not so fast. As the article states, it's unknown whether a gene tells the bones to grow that long (nature) or if they grow that long in response to constant sprinting (nurture). And then there is the research showing the Achilles tendon lever arms are 12 percent shorter in sprinters. What combination of genes decide this?

The unmeasurable side of this is your DNA can't show how much you would love a sport which can set how much time you would be willing to put into practice simply because you enjoy it so much. Can someone who loves to run fast be as successful as a downhill-skier? Similar sports, but also very different. What if the athlete doesn't like the cold or the glare or just likes the feeling of running as fast as they can in place of sliding down the mountain, mostly motionless?

There is one more consideration. For smaller countries like Uzbekistan, there are limited funds to identify, train and send athletes to the Olympics. Using a method for removing athletes from consideration for these resources would increase financial efficiency - something you don't think of, but money is a serious part of the Olympic dream.

Even if enough research went into this type of testing to be valid and reliable, would you be comfortable telling a child they can't train in the sport of their choice because a test says they probably don't have the physical ability to reach Olympic level performance? Does this type of testing help create a better future or just one where science is used to define people before they have a chance to prove themselves?