On Fairness in Sport
Canada has just won its first Track and Field Gold Medal in the Athens Olympics - except aparently, it doesn't count.
The sport? Women's 800m Wheelchair.
It remains beyond me as to why the IOC continues to consider this sport, and the host of other wheelchair track and field competitions as events in the Special Olympics, but refuses to promote them to full Olympics status.
This is not to say that I don't recognize the need for a segregated Special Olympics. It would be unfair, for example to expect a one-armed swimmer to compete against competition with a full complement of limbs. But wheelchair competitions are not like that at all. There is no advantage (other than familiarity with the vehicle) to being either an able-bodied, or a paraplegic competitor when it comes to a wheelchair race.
It confounds me that the IOC will accept races with some vehicles (eg. kayak, bicycle, rowboat, or bobsleigh) but force segregation on others (ie a wheelchair). Why not define the wheelchair as a racing vehicle like any other, and open the field to both able bodied, and disabled competitors?
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angel_thane) wrote,
curious
