Thanks to my mother who found an interesting article on sports and demographics, I can finally try and articulate what has been bothering me about the recent Olympics hullabaloo regarding swimmer Michael Phelps. The article talks about a theory of “sports pyramids, where a sport like equestrian or the steeple chase in running has a very narrow base (not many people try it as children). This is in opposition to a sport like soccer or running where an enormous part of the world has tried their luck with said games.
“The pyramid in question is demographic. The base represents the number of people who have ever tried the sport, usually as children, while at the peak, naturally, stand the top achievers. The broader the pyramid base, the greater the athletes at the top, all other things being equal.”
The basic idea is that in a sport like soccer, where so many people have tried it, it’s a lot harder to become the best because there is simply more competition. Competitive swimming and diving and other less popular sports have a more narrow base of people who try them seriously, and thus have an easier time becoming elite in those arenas.
And so, the author seems to agree with my point that trying to compare Olympic athletes from different sports is a matter of apples and orangutans. The only person who can really claim to be the greatest athlete in the world right now is Brian Clay.
No comments:
Post a Comment