If the worm is literally in there somewhere, whether in the wood, in the apple or as malware in the computer, then this usually means partial or complete destruction of the affected system. It is now well known that in high-performance sports, due to new doping substances and scandals, a nematode has long existed that continually regenerates itself as a hermaphrodite [1]. In the microbial circus of recent years, it has been possible to temporarily banish this topic to the home office, just like the flu or Islamist or other motivated terrorism. It’s impressive what capabilities such a coronavirus can have. Recently, clandestine performance medicine in professional sports has actually appeared in the form of a worm, which at first seems quite absurd.
A small side note at the beginning of this year’s Tour de France [2] discreetly heralded the renaissance of illegal performance manipulation, which this time in the completely unexpected, quasi-zoonotic form of the Arenicola marina [3], as a lugworm, the already complex doping arsenal in an unusual way expanded. More watts out of the watts, so to speak. What? Ok, enough with the puns, the facts about the inconspicuous sea creature make it clear what enormous potential lies dormant in it. The lugworm extract has a 39 times higher oxygen transport capacity than the human blood matrix. While human hemoglobin binds 4 O2 molecules, 156 O2 molecules add to one lugworm hemoglobin unit. In addition, the lugworm hemoglobin is free and not bound to erythrocytes, making it 250 times smaller in volume comparison than the human erythrocyte-hemoglobin complex, which represents significant diffusion advantages, especially in the capillary vessels, which are so essential for the oxygen supply in the muscle [4]. In addition, there are no blood group incompatibilities and the substance has a very short biological half-life, which limits the detection time in doping analysis to around 4 hours [5]. Knowing the doping history and manipulation mentality of the human species, it can be assumed that a doping substance with the potential described above will almost certainly be used in high-performance sports. So it is not surprising that the inventor and company founder of the lugworm products [6], Dr. Franck Zal, has already reported relevant contact requests [7].
The miracle extract from the Breton mudflats is by no means the only doping innovation lying dormant in the pipeline. The arsenal of gene therapy modification options for optimizing the performance of the human genome is characterized by the 2020 Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) “gene scissors” technology, also known synonymously as genome editing [8], and the resulting first drug (Casgevy). This group of active ingredients has already reached the sport mutant level [9]. The fact that the gladiators of modern times will certainly not be deterred by the considerable range of side effects of the recombinant genetically engineered wonder drugs can be seen from society’s fatal willingness to do so. Derive gene therapeutics, which were executed in a shocking way with the worldwide catastrophic injection campaign of the so-called Covid-19 active ingredients on around 4.5 billion people [10]. The common woke mainstream fascist and modRNA vaccination fanatic, of course, continues to ensure strict abstinence from genetically modified food in his diet, without being aware of the schizophrenia of his attitude that has long since transfected him into a GMO (Genetically Modified Organism). After all, doping analysis is aware of the problem and has already evaluated corresponding detection methods [11]. A possible indicator that gene doping could have long been a reality is the enormous change in the age structure in the winner lists in recent years. Suddenly, rows and rows of very young racers such as Bernal, Pidcock, Pogacar, Evenepoel, Uijtdebroeks, Tarling and, most recently, del Toro and Magnier burst into the limelight at the major national tours and cycling classics [12], which were traditionally reserved for athletes who had matured over the years. The enormous leap in performance from the junior racing class, partly omitting the U23 category competitions, to the select world-class professional peloton is very astonishing. The sudden mastery of the significantly higher performance requirements in the significantly longer competition distances within a training year, which the youngsters seem to achieve effortlessly, alone causes astonishment. The fact that more and more racing drivers can complete two (e.g. Marc Soler, Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas, Jonas Vingegaard) or even all three major national tours (Sepp Kuss) at a top level within a year is also a relatively new phenomenon. For the first time in a quarter of a century, the Giro Tour Double is officially targeted for 2024 [13], which was actually already considered unattainable given the immensely increased performance level in modern professional cycling.
