I had a motorbike accident that left me partially paralysed. Paraplegic.

Amongst the amazingly good things that came out of that, I discovered para-sports.

Through that, I realised that my chances of becoming a world-class athlete (overall) were massively improved by having a near-fatal accident. My whole life before, I was fit and healthy, but had no illusions that i could compete at national level in any sport. After the accident, I found I was in a (comparatively) small pool of people who could compete at international para-level in many sports. Not that I actually did- I just got on with my life.

But I did look at criteria for competing in (for instance) Paralympic sailing, and found that I didn’t meet the minimum (or rather maximum) ability criteria for any particular Paralympic class. I’m not “disabled enough” to qualify for any category. There are lots of categories of disability in paralympics.

Which got me thinking...

If you’re going to categorise competitive sports classes on the basis of ability... where (and how) do you draw the line?

I suppose this is just a philosophical pondering, but taken to the extreme, there could be an Olympic medal for “Slightly overweight, myopic, underprivileged unfit 47- year-old neurodiverse male javelin” category.

Taken to the extreme, there is a class for every sport (or competitive endeavour), which takes into consideration your physical and mental composition, your genetic disposition, and the sum of your lifetime experiences, in which you are the world number one.

Well done! Have a gold medal!
-- Frankx, Sep 19 2019

Even with the category perfectly tuned to "me", I'd probably only get bronze...
-- neutrinos_shadow, Sep 19 2019


Taken to the extreme there could be an 'unlimited' category of athlete where drug testing and surgical augmentation wouldn't factor in.

'sides, gold medals are over-rated. I won one once for being the only one in my weight class.

Kinda sucked.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 19 2019


[Frankx], this is the best idea you've ever posted in the Sport:Disabled category. Goooooold !!!

We like this idea. The selected peer group needs to be small, and contain others who are not as good as you at the stated task - that way, you don't win by simple default - some effort is required - but final victory is certain.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 19 2019


This is certainly by far the best idea with this name on the Halfbakery. One issue with this fine degree of categorisation though is the argument that the *real* gold medal winner in Paralympic sports is the winner of the silver medal as the winner of the gold medal has demonstrated, by winning this medal, that they are 'overqualified' for their category.
-- hippo, Sep 19 2019


We have a great shot with my son holding an Olympic gold. One of the team USA swimmers came around to his swim class for pictures. I think most have seen it on the Facebook group.
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 20 2019


Maybe a round medal with an appropriate slice of gold.
-- wjt, Sep 21 2019



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