this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
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Taboo musing: itβs easier to win an Olympic medal in paralympics. Ok hear me out, in regular olympics, there are billions of able bodied people and only 1 set of medals per event. But for paralympics, the pool of potential competitors is less and there are many medals per event due to categories. So para athletes have a statistically better chance at being selected and wining a medal.
The level above "average" of the community that you need to be to get a medal might be lower, but the base level of difficulty they have to start at is much higher. Just navigating day to day life with a disability is a challenge, and the process of travelling overseas to compete would for many be a huge undertaking.
In a lot of ways the method of separating out a lot of categories is fairer at rewarding effort over genetic endowment. We do this somewhat in other sports, like weightlifting or boxing where we have different weight categories. But you can have the most amazing basketball skills in the world, but if you are 5 ft tall you won't be competitive. In reality the pool of potential competitors is restricted to the much smaller group who are really tall. So whilst you can say that the pool of "potential competitors" is every able bodied person, the reality is that the pool is only a small number of people who have the approproate genetic endowment to be in the top group. The narrowing of the selection pool is not as visible as in the paralympics and might be seen as "natural selection" rather than externally imposed, but it is still there.
Oh I completely agree life is not easy for people with disabilities. The difficulties to just live life, let alone participate in sports, are so much greater. I just meant that if you do, then thereβs a smaller pool of people. Also at elite level pretty much all regular sports are body shape dependent not skills dependant to start with. Then if you have the lucky body shape genetics, you can work on skills. Probably part of why Iβve never really liked watching or participating in sport. Height categories in basketball would be a much more inclusive way of running the sport.
Truth shouldn't be taboo
I think you may have a point. I wonder what the funding breakdown is for athletes at the Paralympics vs the regular Olympics.
Maybe you get more funding as well so it's easier to stay focused on your training in the 4 years between