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The consequence of such a mentality leads to an arms race that would only allow economic powerhouses and totalitarian countries to even have a chance in the Oly

The consequence of such a mentality leads to an arms race that would only allow economic powerhouses and totalitarian countries to even have a chance in the Olympics. How many athletes are you willing to condemn to an early death for national prestige? A good friend of mine once was, at the age of six, a potential future Olympic gymnast. At this age (and many athletes start very young) it's the trainers and sports associations in the background that make the decisions about the athletes' health. Do you really want them to give children all kinds of experimental drugs for a slight advantage to win a gold medal?

BrandoElFollito 4y ago
> The consequence of such a mentality leads to an arms race that would only allow economic powerhouses and totalitarian countries to even have a chance in the Olympics The 2022 results are exactly this. Being generous, Slovenia is at the 15th place (before that it is either powerful countries or totalitarian ones (at least from some points of view)). Then I has to scroll down quite a bit to find Belarus. I did not see Sierra Leone there, nor Cambodia. > How many athletes are you willing to condemn to an early death for national prestige? This is a choice the athlete makes. Plenty of people make bad choices in life and nobody cares. > A good friend of mine once was, at the age of six, a potential future Olympic gymnast. At this age (and many athletes start very young) it's the trainers and sports associations in the background that make the decisions about the athletes' health. Do you really want them to give children all kinds of experimental drugs for a slight advantage to win a gold medal? My wife was a European vice-champion in athletics. She dropped sport when her new coaches told her that it is either sport, or studies. She dropped her beloved sport in one second to study - because this is how she was raised. She went on to train at the university, then for fun. When you look at what some children as forced to do in ballet or music - thi sis almost torture but this is for the arts and therefore fantastic. My point is that people who do sport make that choice and they get into a completely abnormal life anyway. There is no more "pure sport" at a competitive level, except maybe for some exotic ones like curling or quidditch.

BrandoElFollito 4y ago

> The consequence of such a mentality leads to an arms race that would only allow economic powerhouses and totalitarian countries to even have a chance in the Olympics The 2022 results are exactly this. Being generous, Slovenia is at the 15th place (before that it is either powerful countries or totalitarian ones (at least from some points of view)). Then I has to scroll down quite a bit to find Belarus. I did not see Sierra Leone there, nor Cambodia. > How many athletes are you willing to condemn to an early death for national prestige? This is a choice the athlete makes. Plenty of people make bad choices in life and nobody cares. > A good friend of mine once was, at the age of six, a potential future Olympic gymnast. At this age (and many athletes start very young) it's the trainers and sports associations in the background that make the decisions about the athletes' health. Do you really want them to give children all kinds of experimental drugs for a slight advantage to win a gold medal? My wife was a European vice-champion in athletics. She dropped sport when her new coaches told her that it is either sport, or studies. She dropped her beloved sport in one second to study - because this is how she was raised. She went on to train at the university, then for fun. When you look at what some children as forced to do in ballet or music - thi sis almost torture but this is for the arts and therefore fantastic. My point is that people who do sport make that choice and they get into a completely abnormal life anyway. There is no more "pure sport" at a competitive level, except maybe for some exotic ones like curling or quidditch.