Banning Technology at Sporting Events

As you might have heard recently FINA is banning the full-polyurethane suits which apparently give athletes an unfair advantage. Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics recently lost his first major competition in four years and was pointing the finger at the suits.

Personally, I strongly disagree with blaming technology from competition. Everyone is allowed to use it. It is not dangerous or otherwise discouraging. New equipment comes out in every sport for the intention of making the athlete better. How is this case different? Records are meant o be broken. All changes to a sport have some effect on records, whether making competition easier or harder. Here are some examples.

The historic context

In the past, it was much harder for females to participate in sports, let alone train for high class competitions. I sometimes fell that the females of the past don’t get enough recognition for their hardship. What they had to go through, a fraction of athletes have to go through now. Sports always required money and funding. Today, in many countries it’s easier to get involved in sports. The things that poor athletes had to go through, also a fraction of athletes go through today. The records that these people achieved back in the day are lost in historic context.

Safer equipment

In contact sports, the safety equipment is much more sophisticated than before. This means athletes can hit hard harder, jump harder, and run harder without the same kind of restraints that previous athletes had. Many athletes have long careers now. Chris Chelios, an NHL athlete played at the age of 47. No doubt athletes’ careers are prolonged due to improved safety equipment.

Rule changes

The value of certain records is diminished now because of rule changes. One recent example is the removal of ties from NHL hockey games. In every game there is now a winner. This means that coaches and goalies now will have an easier time getting wins and finding themselves at the top of the win charts. Ed Belfour had 125 ties. With his success, it’s realistic that he could have tied or Patrick Roy on the all time wins list. What about the days when pitchers started once in three games. CY young has 815 starts and 511, the most all time for both categories.

The bottom line is that athletes already are not getting enough recognition for their previous accomplishments or are getting too much. This is impossible to control. Instead we should just be happy that we are able to improve and get better and get new people in those top charts.