In some weeks the most thought-provoking news stories are not those that are a honey pot for reporters and commentators but the tiny ones. At the end of last week I was intrigued by the story of two competitors in the women's triathlon in Japan.
Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown from Great Britain had been inseparable as they led the first stages of the event, and were still locked together well ahead of the field as they approached the finishing line of the running section. So they decided to join hands and to cross the line together. They were then disqualified and the race awarded to the third runner. The result could cost the two selection in the next Olympic Games.
The International Triathlon Association (ITA) rule under which they were disqualified forbids participating in a contrived tie. It was introduced some years after the leading athlete dragged his collapsed brother to the finishing line. A similar rule against assisting another athlete's progress in the race might have led to the disqualification of John Landy in his famous pausing to help the fallen Ron Clarke when trying to break the four minute barrier.
Although the ITA was strongly criticised for its decision, it had little option. The rule seemed clear, and to allow the tie to stand might well have led to litigation by other athletes in the race.
At first sight the story seems to be worth no more than a short paragraph in the sports pages. No one died. No celebrity was involved. No one much cared. The story, however, illustrates the way in which sport, like so many other areas of life, has allowed itself to be defined as a business whose sole reason for existence is to make people compete against others. To refuse to compete, even if you are so far ahead that no-one else could catch you or if an athlete falls in front of you, is anti-competitive behaviour that must be penalised. Ties in which no single person or team wins must be avoided at all costs. One must win and many lose.
Now it may be argued that the point of sporting competition is that participants should compete and the crown should go to the fastest. That is normally the case, but not automatically so. Sport involves a network of human relationships — those shaped by the rules of the competition, certainly, but also those of friendship