Can technology make sports more equal, or does it only widen the gap between competitors?

Technology has consistently been a part of the evolution of sports. Advances in equipment, playing surfaces, and training methods represent some of the developments in sports technology. The question here is not about the place of technology in sports, as that has already been established. The question here is about whether technology improves or subtly alters the outcome of the competition.

Technology, in many ways, improves the fairness of sports. For instance, technology can provide accurate timing in sports that require accurate timing in milliseconds. Video technology can correct officiating errors that cannot be corrected in real-time. Technology can also reducethe chances of career-ending injuries. In all of these ways, technology does not win games; it makes the competition fair.

There remains a question about technology in sports. If technology becomes an arms race in sports, then money can start to determine the outcome of the competition. A sports team that can afford to invest in the latest technology can gain a considerable advantage over its competitors before the game even begins. In that sense, sports can be about money rather than ability. In that sense, there needs to be rules. Rules need to be in place to govern sports so that technology can be used to advance sports without upsetting the equilibrium.

However, even in the most technologically sophisticated environment, there is one inescapable truth: pressure cannot be outsourced. No machine can calm a shaky hand in a penalty shootout, and there is no computer program that can give a team mental toughness in the closing stages of the contest. However, technology can make sports more equitable in other ways as well. Finally, I feel that technology is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It is a tool, and its use is what matters in order to maintain real competition and to make sure that the athlete, and not the technology, is at the centre of the contest.