Advisor/tutor: AnaTexeiraPinto

June 2020

Abstract

This thesis presents the story of former road cyclist Lance Armstrong as a place for transhumanist body-hacking discourses to unfold. Under the sespecific parameters, it contextualizes the issue by reviewing existing literature on the topic. After giving an insight into Armstrong’s biographical details prior to his athletic success, it reviews precedents of doping in cycling and the methods used by him and his team. On a wider perspective, it continues describing the role of amateurism in the initial spirit of the modern Olympic movement. The incursion of both professionalism and development of trainingprograms into sport is brought into relation with the apparition of the laws of thermodynamics and studies on fatigue.

Transhumanism is introduced as a narrative particularly prone to blur the lines between disease treatment and human enhancement. Intersection of different factors such as genetic conditions, response to training, practice, evironment or economic circumstances, are exposed as being decisive in physiological transformation and athletic performance, rather than simplistic answers of epic effort. or pharmacologic solutions.