Talent inclusion: An imperfect solution to genetic testing in sport - Response to commentaries

Abstract

We are extremely grateful our esteemed colleagues Craig Pickering, Duarte Araújo, Keith Davids, and Kevin Till have read and offered insightful reflections on the target article “Talent inclusion and genetic testing in sport: A practitioner’s guide”. We take the opportunity in the present article to respond to the three commentaries provided by these authors. In our target article, we highlighted at this moment in time, there is unequivocal disapproval in the scientific community with regards to the implementation of genetic testing in sport. Despite an insufficient evidence base, however, various stakeholders (e.g., athletes, support staff) have used, and will likely continue using, genetic tests. We offered potential explanations regarding the allure of genetic information to sports stakeholders before suggesting some imperfect solutions in terms of increasing genetic literacy, promoting talent inclusion, and following a minimum set of best practice guidelines.

Keywords

• athlete development
• genomics
• high performance
• polymorphism
• talent identification