Can technology make sports more equal, or does it only widen the gap between competitors?
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
Technology in sport is changing in many different ways but is it fair or giving others an advantage?
An example of technology in sport changing is when VAR [video assistant referee] was introduced in football. VAR has proved to make football fairer as it’s better than a normal referee improving accuracy from 82% to 96%. It can help the referee by checking things like goals, penalties and red and yellow cards, which might be too quick for the human eye to see. VAR seems to be fairer and fans seem to agree with it.
Although tech can sometimes be beneficial, it can be used wrongly as well. An example of this is in the 2025 Olympics when Norwegian skiers rigged their suits illegally so they could be better at skiing. Luckily, this was found out and they were disqualified.
Another example of sport changing, is in 2018 when the FIA introduced the halo to formula 1 and made it mandatory on every F1 car. The halo is a strong, wishbone shaped piece of tech made of titanium. It’s so strong that it can withstand the weight of a London double decker bus. Since the introduction of the halo, many lives have been saved including in the 2025 US grand prix, when Lewis Hamilton was nearly struck by a piece of debris but luckily it hit the halo instead.
A beneficial piece of tech that has changed tennis for the better is hawk-eye which is used to spot if a ball lands outside of the court. Since 2006, when it was introduced to tennis, it has replaced linesmen and is much more accurate because tennis balls can reach high speeds which the human eye may not be able to see so clearly. When it was introduced, there was some dislike but many thought it was beneficial.
Overall, I think that tech is very useful as it can help you get better at sport by helping you with training but I think that there should be a limit for how much technology you can use in competitions because some people will gain an advantage if others don’t have access to it. As well as that, I think tech is more good than bad as it helps you be the best you can be.
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