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

I think technology can make sports unfair and fair in different ways in many sports including football, tennis, Formula One and skiing.

Teams in football that are wealthier than other teams can get an advantage by purchasing tech, which could be used for negative ways or positive ways. An example that tech can be used in fair way is that there's VAR (Video Assistant Referee) which helps to see things that makes football fair like:

1)penalties

2)red or yellow cards being needed

3)checking goals

4)mistaken identities (wrong person called for the red card)

VAR has improved football accuracy from 82% to 96% and is being used in the Premier League. However, some fans don’t like VAR because of the delay in the game and sometimes fans celebrate but could come out as an offside. Tech can also be used for tracking player’s heart rate, speed of their kicks and for injuries or risks.

Formula 1 has also used tech in a safe and fair way, as they have invented the Halo which was introduced in 2018. The Halo is used to keep racers safe when they compete. An example when Halo has kept someone safe was when Lewis Hamiliton was racing and a piece of debris flew over his Halo and left him with no injuries. Another example is when Zhou Guanyu was protected by the Halo when his race car crashed.

Although tech can improve the sport there has been used illegally - in skiing two Norwegian skiers, Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang, added an extra thread to their skiing suit, which made them eliminated from the games. This is a way technology can be used in a negative way.

An example of tech being used in a positive way is that my sister goes jogging and she uses an app called Strava, which tracks her jogging pace and gives her routes where to go. She says that it's really useful.

Overall, I think that tech widens the gap between competitors because it makes players lose their skills and makes it unfair for other teams or players who have less money or are on a budget. However, if all teams in sport have an advantage to use technology, then I think it would be fairer.