One of the most important principles of sports is the one of a fair competition. Performance enhancing drugs have always been a major obstacle and officials in many sports are struggling to keep competitions clean.
Now there are two interesting stories taking place at the IAAF track and field championships in Daegu, South Korea. One is the story of Oscar Pistorius who has no lower legs and uses two technical aids called blades to run. By allowing Pistorius to compete the IAAF made a groundbreaking ruling. What if his blades give Pistorius an unfair advantage over his competitors? I always guessed that this would not be a problem as long as he was not winning or close to it. Well, he was not but now he will compete in the 400m relay final after qualifying in the semis with a new South African record (2 minutes, 59.21 seconds). We will see what happens.
The second story is the one of Caster Semenya, who won the women 800m race at the IAAF championships in Berlin 2009. Afterwards a discussion started and she had to verify her gender. Several sources indicated that Semenya genetically was partly female and partly male. This discussion started after she dominated the final 200 meters of the race in Berlin, won the 800m at a unusually young age and improved her personal best significantly over the course of one year. Even the use of doping was suspected and an investigation was started. If her genetic features were the reason for her win is still debated. Now she will compete in the 800m semi final in Daegu.
Both cases are arguably examples for an unfair competition. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the aftermath of the two races. It is argued that sports audiences want a fair contest and competitive balance. And it is the key principle of any sports contest. But maybe stories like Pistorius' or Semenya's are what attracts fans and maximizes rents.
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