באולימפיאדת ריו ב-2016 נפסלו המתחרים הרוסים בסדרה של תחומים, לאחר שהתגלה כי ממשלת רוסיה עסקה בסימום שיטתי של אתלטים בסוצ׳י. התברר ששירותי הביון הרוסים נהגו לגנוב את מבחנות הבדיקה של אתלטים נבחרים, ולהחליף את הדגימות בדגימות נקיות מסמים. כך רימו את המערכת שאמורה להבטיח כי לא יתחרו אתלטים על סמים. אבל מדוע לטרוח לסמם את הגוף האנושי כשאפשר לשנות אותו? בעולם של הנדסה גנטית ייתכן שיהיה פשוט מאוד ליצור אתלט-על עם שרירים חזקים בהרבה משל אדם רגיל. ואולי אפילו אדם שיהיה בכלל מותאם לחיות מתחת למים? מובן שאדם מהונדס גנטית שכזה ינצח כל בן אנוש רגיל בלתי-מהונדס. הרעיונות הללו כלל אינם חדשים, כפי שמדגים הסיפור שלהלן ממגזין המדע הבדיוני “פנטסיה 2000”.

נצנוץ זהב \ ניקולאס ו. ירמוקוב (תרגום: חנה הברפלד)

הופיע בגיליון פנטסיה 2000 מספר  32 בשנת 1982


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במקור הסיפור הופיע באנגלית ב:

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1980

Simon Hawke

כתב אותו הסופר ניקולאס  ולנטין ירמאקוב – Nicholas (Valentin) Yermakov, שמאז כתיבת הסיפור שינה את שמו לסימון האוק Simon Hawke ופרסם בשם זה מספר רב של ספרי מדע בדיוני ופנטזיה.

בעברית הופיע סיפור אחד נוסף שלו, “לחישת שדי המוות”, בתרגום גילה אולייר, והוא ראה אור ב”פנטסיה 2000″ מספר 36.

אפשר למצוא את סימןן האוק בפייסבוק כאן

באופן לא צפוי עבור סופר אמריקני (אך ממוצא רוסי) בסיפור “נצנוץ של זהב” יש הדים לספר מדע בדיוני סובייטי מפורסם, “האדם האמפיבי”, מאת אלכסנדר בלייב. ספר זה פורסם במקור ב-1928, והוא מתאר ילד ה”מהונדס” לחיות מתחת למים כבעל זימים (הספר תורגם מרוסית בשנת 2000 בידי מוטי לבון. אייר: אמין קולייב).

חובבי “האדם האמפיבי” ישמחו לגלות שאנו חוזרים ופוגשים את הנער המהונדס הזה בסיפור שלפנינו. הפעם הוא שחיין אולימפי שהונדס גנטית לנשום מתחת למים.

נצנוץ של זהב

yarmakov future olympic story

6 תגובות

  1. מהו עתידה של האולימפיאדה אם בכלל ? כמה סופרים מחווים את דעתם :
    7 Sci-Fi Writers Predict The Future Of The Olympics
    How the Games will evolve (or devolve) alongside humanity

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/olympics-future-science-fiction_us_57599861e4b0e39a28acc674

    The 2016 Summer Olympics haven’t even started yet, and they’re already a mess. No matter which way you look at it ― politically, economically, environmentally or scientifically ― Brazil and the International Olympic Committee are struggling to the finish line in Rio de Janeiro.

    The degree of calamity in Brazil, and the added panic ushered in by Zika, make the situation there uniquely dire. But many of the issues in Rio are ethical dilemmas that have surrounded the Olympic Games for decades. The years pass, and still, poorly compensated workers continue to build the Olympic stadiums; still, the IOC refuses to pay its oft-impoverished athletes; still, dope-powered athletes continue to pass drug tests; still, local officials continue to falsely claim the Games will help the local economy; and still, the gender divide in sports continues to look more and more dated.

    To many sports fans, the Olympics can feel like an emblem of the stodgy old guard, enough so to make you wonder: Besides pulling at our nationalistic heartstrings, what do the Olympics really accomplish? And where are they headed?

    It’d be pessimistic to view the Olympics as a bleak dystopia beyond repair. So, we asked seven science-fiction writers to imagine how the Games might look down the line. Their responses ― including an homage to human athletes facing down robot competitors and an alternative to gender-based event categories ― are refreshingly solutions-focused, offering a glint of optimism in the face of disrepair.
    1. Climate change will cause the Winter Olympic Games to change drastically.

    -Madeline Ashby, author of Company Town

    “First, I question whether the Olympics has much of a future. I understand that there are existing structures of power that work to keep the Games going, and for that reason they are likely to continue. But in the long term, in the face of ongoing scandal, rising expense, and rising temperatures, it seems unlikely that the Games can continue in the way that they have. After all, how can you have winter sports when winter is only a memory?

    “Still, people do love sport. They love competition. They love displays of strength ― both physical strength, and the strength of will necessary to become an (honest) Olympic competitor. That’s why I think that over time, we’ll start to see more movements like the Nemean Games Revival, which is less about brands and more about, well, games. And I think we’ll see a diversity of available games: games for augmented humans, games for different types of bodies, games that recognize gender is fluid. If the IOC wants to live up to its ideals, it will have to both quash corruption and make room for change.”

    2. A new, more environmentally sustainable alternative to the Olympics will rise up.

    -Malka Older, author of Infomocracy

    “I would like to imagine an Olympics untied from nationalism (or, what the hell, a world without nationalism!) where we would see the best athletes competing against each other, not just the best as chosen by each country. In this world nations wouldn’t take any particular pride in hosting the games, so decisions about whether or not to do so would be based on sober analyses of whom the events would benefit and whom they would harm. Or maybe we could divorce the Games from corporate interests instead, so that when a country offered to host, they would be hosting with their own resources and the attendance would benefit their own enterprises. (In both these scenarios, by the way, the IOC is long defunct, probably by way of criminal prosecution.)

    These Games would be held without any new construction, without packed sunbaked parking lots or rushed and unsafe facilities or dead workers.
    ”Neither of these seem likely. The combination of corporate-subsidized nationalism and tax-payer subsidized investment is too beneficial for both sides. Instead let’s imagine a smaller glimmer of hope, an alternative event, the Sustainable Olympics. We could give them a name, for a place first that opts out of expensive stadiums, traffic congestion, and exploitation: the Jakartics? The Talinnics? The Reykjaviks?

    “In any case, these Games would be held without any new construction, without packed sunbaked parking lots or rushed and unsafe facilities or dead workers. They would be broadcast to anyone who wanted to watch them, and without any sob story backgrounds beyond what the athletes themselves chose to tell. They would be low-key, low-maintenance, low-carbon, and yet the stakes would still be high: to be named the best in the world.”
    3. Cheesy human interest stories will be replaced by a more immersive, athlete-controlled media experience.

    -S.B. Divya, author of Runtime

    “The future of the Olympics doesn’t look too bright unless the Games make some big changes in their audience engagement. Right now, the International Olympic Committee is stuck in the one-way television age and trying to catch up with the internet while throttling its athletes; access to communication.

    Let the competitors be the eyes and ears and commentators for the Games.
    “Meanwhile, the world is moving into increased interactivity ― 3D video, virtual reality headsets, always-on celebrities. This thirst for shared life experience will only grow. The Olympic Games are a brilliant way to showcase the drama of a life spent trying to reach the pinnacle of performance. People devour that kind of story, but tomorrow’s audience is growing ever more sophisticated. They can smell an edited, curated story from a mile away, and they don’t like it. What they want ― even today ― is the raw, personal perspective of each individual athlete. Instant access, no filters.

    “If the Olympics are to thrive, the IOC needs to open the floodgates of information and allow athletes to interact directly with the world. Let the competitors be the eyes and ears and commentators for the Games. The future is primed for an immersive Olympic experience. I hope we’ll get to see it.”
    4. The Games will become a nostalgic ode to a time when humans were less scientifically perfect.

    -Max Gladstone, author of Four Roads Cross

    “What’s the future of the Olympics? Think vinyl.

    “Set aside climate change, revolution, and dwindling resources, and assume our society lasts the next two centuries. The more we understand the human body, the faster we will be able to run, and the higher we will be able to jump. Athletes, regulators, and audience will have to negotiate what humanist athletic ideals mean when the human body becomes a limiting factor.

    Someday our children’s children will gather to watch, with metal eyes, a bunch of fierce kids made from meat and bone race the four hundred-meter hurdles.
    “The discussion has already started. Athletes can use some drugs, like caffeine, but not others, like their own blood. No to artificial legs that let sprinters run faster, yes to bathing suits that make a swimmer’s body more sleek. With each new development, we settle on what makes an ‘authentic’ athlete. Someday a human mind in a robot body will run the hundred meter dash in a second. But, for a long time, we’ll believe that doesn’t count.

    “Sports will face the hipster’s dilemma. Vinyl is heavy and fragile. A record larger than an iPad stores four songs on a side. But people buy records, and care for them, and value the ‘authentic’ hiss and pop.

    “If we survive, someday our children’s children, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, will gather to watch, with metal eyes, a bunch of fierce kids made from meat and bone race the four hundred-meter hurdles.”

    5. And they will do so for the same reason we enjoy going to the movies or looking at art today.

    -Patrick Hemstreet, author of The God Wave

    “[In the future], your accountant, your masseuse, and your butler (yes, we will all receive a personal C-3PO) will service your needs via a symphonic confluence of circuits and hydraulics. Lightning-fast computation and enhanced processor precision will ensure all pertinent tasks are performed efficiently and free of error. Likewise, the Olympics will showcase the talent of such beloved star athletes as X4-T34G and RP4567-F.

    “Yeah — only I really doubt that last part.

    No amount of steroids could transform an Olympian into the likes of X4-T34G.
    “I still go to the theater to see live humans act out fiction and fantasies. The largest playhouse in Houston is about 50 yards from a cinema, yet I still attend and enjoy plays. I still listen to orchestral concerts, although I own the ubiquitous smartphone (paired with a good set of headphones) which separates me by a mere finger tap from any piece of music I wish to enjoy. Chances are, many of you do too. I still want to see humans interact with other humans to demonstrate abilities gained through training and talent alone.

    “Why? I — no — we enjoy witnessing the heights and complexities of human ability. To see members of our species blow past seemingly insurmountable barriers is the greatest form of entertainment. Hearing a new story or marveling at the creativity of a new artist is an experience that is firmly enshrined in flesh and bone. This exchange between souls is, dare I say, sacred and will never be yielded to non-sentient metallic automatons.

    “That said, the presence of Lucasian mechanical citizens will have some effect on the Olympics, primarily in regard to pharmaceuticals. The use of performance-enhancing drugs will surely remain illegal. But illicit doping in a post robotics-revolution society will be pointless and frankly, silly. After all, no amount of steroids could transform an Olympian into the likes of X4-T34G.

    “When the day comes that we are surrounded by walking IBMs and Apples, we will come to a greater appreciation of what it means to be human, warts and all. Think of it, the sanctity of sportsmanship (and all human endeavor) resurrected and cherished as a result of an implacable tide of tick-tock.”
    6. Or, it could go the other way, and corporations will sponsor athletes based on their DNA sequences.

    -Stacey Berg, author of Dissension

    “The future of the Olympics is already here. Athletes take advantage of every available technology to gain an edge, from wearable monitors to altitude chambers to performance-enhancing drugs. What’s going to change in the future is that the athletes will be the technology.

    The new argument is whether to let in players whose entire DNA sequence is synthetic, a technology originally developed for military applications.
    ”When the games of the 50th Olympiad open in 2092, ethicists are still debating whether it’s a right or a privilege for ordinary people to have disease-causing traits removed from their embryos, but the Olympics have jumped far ahead. Human gene editing makes it possible to customize the perfect player for every sport, with bigger hearts, better lungs, and faster, stronger muscles designed at will. Sovereign corporations sponsor athletes endowed with patented genetic sequences; fans, at least those who can afford it, snap up these sequences to insert into their own embryos. The new argument is whether to let in players whose entire DNA sequence is synthetic, a technology originally developed for military applications.

    “Meanwhile the CyborGames, whose athletes openly embrace mechanical as well as biologic enhancement, are siphoning off the younger, hipper audience. No one knows yet that in 2093, the RetrOlympic Reboot, featuring only athletes produced by random mating, will be the surprise hit show of the year.”
    7. And each Olympic event will eventually handle issues of gender differently.

    -Ada Palmer, author of Too Like the Lightning

    “One big change I think the Olympics will have to face in the next century is how to handle gender segregation in sports. Even here in the early 21st century, binary gender categories are already breaking down. I imagine an Olympics where each event handles gender differently. In events where it makes little difference ― like riflery or chess ― everyone would compete together. Events where size or weight offer major advantages would offer “open” division where anyone could participate, but also events segregated by height or weight, much like boxing today. The smaller classes would have mainly female participants, the larger mainly male, but sex wouldn’t be the divider, the secondary characteristics ― height, reach, stride, shoulder width ― would be.

    The smaller classes would have mainly female participants, the larger mainly male, but sex wouldn’t be the divider, the secondary characteristics—height, reach, stride, shoulder width—would be.
    ”I also imagine the future Olympics continuing to be a centerpiece of peacemaking and international cooperation. In many ways the biggest barrier between us and a Jetsons future where we can pop from country to country for a picnic is the international law, borders, conflicts, how to handle national defense as people zip across borders. Lots of industries that would profit from easier international travel — like tourism and sports — have tried to push countries to borders more permeable, but few organizations anywhere have as much international respect, trust, and clout as the Olympics. So I imagine that the Olympics, and sports fans in general, could be the ones to spearhead a movement to push for easier travel regulations, to make it possible for every citizen of the Earth to hop in a flying car and come to the Games, see the torch, and share in the Olympic Spirit.

    “As I look forward, imagining the political encounters of the next centuries, I think the Olympics will continue to be a space where enemy nations come together after conflict, where marginalized and oppressed groups push for recognition, where alliances are celebrated, causes discussed, awareness raised, grudges eased, and where countries that don’t yet exist will continue to hold each other to the highest standards of excellence. After all, if Antarctica makes the sixth ring on a future Olympic Flag, the Moon or Mars may make the seventh.”

  2. סופרי מדע בדיוני באופן כללי מיעטו לעסוק באולימפיאדות עתידניות .
    \ספר אחד יוצא דופן הוא ספרם של לארי ניבן וסטיבן ברנס “בחירתו של אכילס “מ-1991 שלמרבית הצער לא תורגם לעברית :

    הנה תקציר העלילה :
    he Olympiad is for those with enough confidence in their own abilities to risk everything—even death. That peculiar, uncoachable capacity for confidence produces champions. Enables a human being to put everything on the line. That’s one definition of a “warrior,” isn’t it? We don’t have wars anymore. But some people still need, and want, to test themselves against the very best.

    I know you are one of those people, Jillian, or you wouldn’t be here. To those who risk much, much will be given.

    Jillian Shomer had won the right to compete in the Eleventh Olympiad. She and her competitors were the best and brightest, three thousand of the finest minds and bodies that had ever strode the planet.

    Yet within a few short years, ninety-eight percent of them would be dead. Only a handful would survive to take their place among Earth’s ruling elite.

    The rulers of the 21st century had created a nearly perfect system of government: A world free from war, disease, and want, dominated by global corporations, managed by omniscient artificial intelligences.

    And they’d created a nearly perfect system for selecting its future leaders: A new kind of Olympics that tested the mind as well as the body.

    To win this coveted prize, the athletes used the most advanced technique available to medicine: The Boost, an operation that conveyed brilliant intellect and superhuman strength—at a terrible price…

    Once Boosted, there followed burnout. The mind and body suffered mental and physical disintegration—and death—in just a few short years. The only way to halt the effects of the Boost was connection to the Link, the global information network that sustained the world.

    And only those who won received the Link.

    Few had ever dared to question the workings of the system. None who had questioned survived.

    Jillian Shomer dared. One fearless, unpredictable American refused to give up her humanity. Pitting faith and raw courage against awesome technological might, one woman risked her life to defy the godlike power of Earth’s masters. (less)

    he world of 2048 is ruled by a council of computer-enhanced, “linked” people, with new members Tchosen every four years through a competitive mental, physical and aesthetical Olympics. In training, contender Jillian Shomer debates whether to use a “boost” to enhance her chances. Nobody who has not boosted can prevail over anyone who has, at least in the physical contests, but those who use the boost and do not win will die within 10 years–only the link can counteract its effects and only a council member can be linked. Seeking to learn why the council would so allow the destruction of the majority of the world’s finest youths, Jillian discovers unsavory aspects to her utopia. Then someone, or something, catches her spying

  3. ויש גם אנתולוגיה של סיפורי מדע בדיוני על אולימפיאדות העתיד שאותה ערך ב-1984 ( שנת האולימפיאדה של שיא המלחמה הקרה בין ברית המועצות לארה”ב )
    אסימוב.
    הנה סקירה באנגלית על סיפורי אנתולוגיה זאת שכללו גם את הסיפור “ניצנוץ הזהב ” שלמעלה :

    Olympic contests between the Soviet bloc and America were often exploited for propaganda purposes, the outcome of an athletic event supposedly saying something significant about the victor’s country. This 1984 anthology, from the height of the Cold War, has several stories built around that notion.
    Tom Sullivan’s “The Mickey Mouse Olympics” and Nicholas V. Yermakov’s “A Glint of Gold” both feature Soviet and American Olympic athletes genetically modified for their events. Sullivan plays the notion for genuine laughs. Yermakov’s story is much more serious and shows the price the competitors pay as propaganda pawns. He also works in a defection subplot.
    Walter F. Moudy’s “The Survivor” abandons all together the notion of mere symbolic combat in the Olympics. In his future, the USSR and USA each put 100 man combat teams into the arena, and they don’t come out till one side is annihilated. It’s all televised, of course. Moudy is not content to just do a story of future gladiatorial matches. He also delves into what the combat conditioning does to the soldier, what kind of person it produces. It isn’t idle speculation, either, because all the survivors of an Olympic War Game get to do whatever they want with no legal sanctions. It’s one of the highpoints of the anthology.
    Not all of the stories deal with future Olympics; the general theme is competition.
    In the case of the dentist in Piers Anthony “Getting Through University”, basis for his novel PROSTHO PLUS, the competition is to get accepted to galactic University, School of Dentistry. Anthony creates an entertaining story out of the complexities of dentistry on the galaxy’s aliens.
    Other highpoints are Norman Spinrad’s “The National Pastime”, “The Wind from the Sun” by Arthur C. Clarke, and “Prose Bowl” from the team of Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg. Spinrad’s story tells of the invention of Combat Football and its fans very violent enthusiasm for it. It’s a 1973 story but hasn’t dated that much, especially since wrestling promoters now talk of starting their own football league. Clarke’s story combines hard science and melancholy in a solar sail race. Also titled “Sunjammer”, it was probably the first story to use the idea of solar sails. “Prose Bowl” makes hack writing into an hilarious spectator sport, but it also says some serious things about writers and their audiences.
    On the decidely low end of the anthology are Jack Vance’s “The Kokod Warriors”, about aliens who fight elaborate combats and the humans who bet on them, and Charles Nuetzel’s “A Day for Dying”, one of those stories with a decadent society of televised bloodsports and an unconvincing revolution to topple it. George Alec Effinger’s “From Downtown at the Buzzer”, about some aliens fascination with basketball, is marred by a vague ending.
    In the entertaining-but-nothing-special category are the rest of the anthology’s works. George R.R. Martin’s “Run to Starlight” has aliens playing football against humans. The aliens turn out to have a more realistic view of the games’ ultimate significance than the humans. Bob Shaw’s “Dream Fighter” is another one of those stories where combatants assault each other mentally with horrifying symbols. Suzette Haden Elgin’s “For the Sake of Grace” is a feminist story about a poetry contest on a world with an Arab-type culture and the young girl who dares to enter it despite the horrifying consequences of failing. Robert Sheckley’s “The People Trap” is a witty, grim tale of a race for land in an overpopulated world. “Why Johnny Can’t Speed” by Alan Dean Foster is another combat on the highways story. It was possibly a response to Harlan Ellison’s classic “Along the Scenic Route”. “Nothing in the Rules” by L. Sprague de Camp is about the chaos caused by a mermaid entering a swimming match. “The Olympians” by Mike Resnick is not, despite the title, a future Olympics tale. The Olympians are an elite group of humans who specialize in humiliating aliens in athletic competitions.
    There are enough good stories here to justify taking a look at this anthology.

    ומבקר אחר כתב על סיפורי אנתולוגיה זאת :

    read this anthology several times as a teenager in the ’80s. I’ve never forgotten several of the stories. In fact, between the latest world events, the 2004 election season, the 2004 Olympics, several of the stories kept popping back into mind unbidden this summer.
    ואני אוסיף שהסיפור “ניצנוץ הזהב ” נראה רלבנטי יותר בשנת 2016 מאשר נראה בשנת 1980….

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