• @Fleur__@lemmy.world
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    34 months ago

    Yeah but it’s not like it’s unheard of to group different people im different divisions according to their abilities. Like most sports have women’s and men’s divisions, which as we are finding out, is at best kinda not a perfect way to divide people as it leaves quite a bit up for interpretation and at worst entirely arbitrary. But that’s not the only examples, younger people tend to be organized by age which is unfortunate for those going into puberty later and busted for those going in earlier.

    I think re-evaluating what constitutes a separate division and how people are organised into them is a totally fair thing to do and approaching that from a standpoint of the potential biological and physiological advantages a person might have, is in my opinion a valid way of doing so, though probably not how I would go about it.

    • @moon@lemmy.ml
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      24 months ago

      Okay but then would you put Michael Phelps in his own category for having:

      • The torso of a 6’8 man and the legs of a 6’0 man, giving him a disproportionately large chest and less leg drag in the water
      • A wingspan that’s longer than his own height (his arms stretch to 6’7!), something so freakish and concerning that he thought he might have a disease at one point in his life
      • Double-jointed elbows, chest and feet that are basically flippers because of how much he can bend them

      Or do you just accept that some people are extraordinary and that a Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps or [insert female athlete with unusual physical characteristics] can come along once a generation and dominate a sport because they were born to do so?