unfair competitions

Unfair competitions are entrenched.

For example, the Olympics. I am always irked looking at the table of medals published in every newspaper.

A far more just comparison is medal tally by population. For Athens 2004 the winners were:

1) THE BAHAMAS
2) AUSTRALIA
3) CUBA

Even more impressive, perhaps, are the winners of the medal tally by gross domestic product (GDP):

1) GEORGIA
2) ETHIOPIA
3) CUBA

Recently I was working with athletes training for a competition called Canada Winter Games. The tiny Province of PEI (pop. 140,000) must field a team to compete against Ontario (pop. 12,800,000). Ontario has 90 times more people to draw from.

Is that fair? Is it smart athlete development? Is money being spent wisely?

Obviously not.

The only argument for a competition this unfair is that it somehow encourages the regions of the country with less population to develop their gymnastics program. I don’t buy that argument.

Needless to say the competitive rules for this competition are entirely wrong for PEI. Those kids are forced to compete above their ability level.

(I should mention that in Canada we also have fair competitions where all eligible competitors have an equal chance. The first I would name is called Elite Canada, the National Team Selection meet.)

What about your region? Do you attend unfair competitions?

(Leave a comment below.)