GM athletes could get their own events Scientists say they could be treated 'like racing cars' Power running, swimming and climbing could be first disciplines

PUBLISHED: 13:01 EST, 19 July 2012 | UPDATED: 13:01 EST, 19 July 2012

Superhuman athletes created by gene therapy and biomechanical engineering will one day be competing at the Olympics - but will need their own events, predict scientists.

Performance-enhancing technologies will advance to a point where they will not only extend human limits - but demand a events all of their own, similar to the Formula One version of car racing.

Professor Hugh Herr of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: 'For each one there will be a new sport - power running and power swimming and power climbing.

'Just like the invention of the bicycle led to the sport of cycling. What well see is the emergence of all kinds of new sports.'

Mechanical prosthetics will become much more proficient than the cheetah-style legs used by amputees including Oscar Pistorius from South Africa.

The first superhuman athlete? Oscar Pistorius trains at the track in South Africa.

The Paralympic gold medallist has now been approved to run in the London 2012 Olympics even though his prosthetics lack the stiffness of a human ankle and cant generate the same forces.

Prof Herrs lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently working on a bionic running leg.

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Forget the Olympics - Here come the Superhuman games for genetically enhanced humans