By Cheche Vidal
One of the most enriching discoveries I made while writing the book Fair Competition was the importance of the concept and understanding of what we know as "meritocracy.”
As I explain in my book, sport competition, in its operational definition, is an association that encourages, measures, ranks, and compares the performances of its participants in the pursuit of physical, mental, and moral excellence. Fair Competition represents the best version of this, aspiring to the maximum excellence of its participants and organizers – the entire human ecosystem of competition.
Although Fair Competition acknowledges that perfection is unattainable, its mission is to inspire and promote the best possible effort from everyone in that quest for excellence. Hence, the ethical dimension of competition, which drives the best possible attitude of each human being in their pursuit of excellence, might be the most critical aspect of the system. History even reveals that the loss of this moral compass was the reason why sports competition, as we know it, disappeared from society for more than a thousand years.
On the other hand, meritocracy is a political, social, or economic system in which people attain positions of power, influence, or reward based solely on their abilities and achievements, not on their social, cultural, or economic background or irrelevant personal characteristics.
There are notable similarities between Fair Competition and meritocracy. Although the former is described in a sports context in my book and the latter focuses on society in general, both represent versions of competition among humans that emphasize excellence and the recognition of individual merit within a context of equal opportunities.
However, Fair Competition acknowledges the inherent imperfection of the system and focuses on promoting and maximizing the constant effort to achieve excellence, even in the face of adversity. In this way, it transforms each step we take on the path, each point, and each effort into the goal we seek to achieve: the greatest possible excellence of everyone in its ecosystem.
On the other hand, meritocracy focuses on the goal, ignoring the path, and is based on the idea that excellence is defined by the result, without considering the effort required to get there. This view assumes that perfection exists, creating utopian expectations that abilities or achievements are the sole basis for reward and recognition, thereby underestimating the importance of the process and continuous effort. In a figurative sense, we could illustrate this comparison by arguing that meritocracy is the desired, yet utopian, representation of the preferred outcome of every fair competition, while ignoring that perfection does not exist.
Understanding this dimension of competition is essential, as it illustrates how competition also serves as a system that helps develop understanding, collaboration, and tolerance among participants, even in the face of adversity, and never giving up on trying to improve.
By recognizing and addressing the imperfections of the competitive system, including meritocracy, efforts are activated to achieve a balance where justice and the aspiration for maximum excellence are not sacrificed. Instead, these challenges become drivers for improving the reality of life with each effort. This perspective, inherent in competition, organically fosters the development of tolerance and inclusion in participants and allows organizers to explore solutions that can address inequalities and limitations inherent in competition, without losing sight of its intrinsic purpose and value.
An example that illustrates this idea is a statement made by retired Belgian soccer player for Real Madrid, Eden Hazard, who, in 2021, when asked about what current rule he would change in soccer if FIFA granted him the power to do so, replied:
"I would remove the VAR. It takes away so much fun from soccer, the emotions. We score, and then we wonder what will happen. Well, it corrected many mistakes, but injustice is also the beauty of soccer. Without a doubt… goodbye VAR!"
Hazard then acknowledged the inherent imperfection of the system and preferred to preserve the emotion and tolerance of injustice in sports competition rather than seek a solution that could affect the essence of the game.
However, VAR and other technologies, such as increasingly accurate stopwatches or photographic cameras to determine the winner of a race with the known "Photo-Finish," are examples of how sports competitions constantly evolve to achieve the highest possible precision for equity and justice. These advances are indispensable in pursuing organizational excellence that should characterize all fair competitions.
What turns out to be even more relevant is that each competition, as an agreement based on a set of rules, develops and adapts its norms to be as fair and inclusive as possible. In this way, each competition, game by game and season by season, adapts in the pursuit of excellence to achieve maximum equity and justice in determining the winner.
Among the aspirations of all competitions is achieving the greatest possible inclusion to guarantee maximum opportunities for equity and justice growth. For this reason, the global system of sports competitions is also constantly reviewing its admission processes to offer the greatest possible opportunity to anyone who wishes to participate and do so without granting privileges. In this way, the growth and increase in the quality of the development of everyone in their virtuous competitiveness or "arete", as the ancient Greeks described it, is encouraged. Greater inclusion and equity in sports competitions not only promote the development of participants but also strengthen the spirit of competition and excellence that have characterized sports since ancient Greece.
In the same way that we argued that meritocracy is the desired, albeit utopian, representation of the result of all Fair Competition by ignoring that perfection does not exist, we could also argue that a democracy aspiring to be an equitable meritocracy for all its citizens must confront the reality of inequalities and differentiated treatment within the system.
In my opinion, democracy is also an ecosystem based on human competition, one that always seeks maximum excellence thanks to the freedom it offers. Therefore, it must be as inclusive as possible to reach its full potential. Democratic societies must try to channel all citizens into developing virtuous competitiveness, whether in sports, academics, the military, business, or any other general training. These processes, in the case of democracy, determine the development of virtuous competitive beings that we call citizenship.
Due to this importance, just as we accept any citizen with privileges or advantages, who do not need any effort to be admitted, we must also make our best efforts to guarantee the participation of those who face difficulties in competing. Here lies the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, which play a fundamental role in strengthening a democratic society that seeks maximum citizen competitiveness, prosperity, and a just life. In a democracy aspiring to become an honest and fair meritocracy, DEI initiatives strive to ensure that all people, regardless of origin or identity, have equitable access to opportunities and resources. By recognizing and addressing systemic barriers and biases, DEI programs allow individuals to compete fairly based on their merits, skills, and efforts, thus contributing to a more equitable, virtuous, and prosperous society.
If, as a democratic country, we want to improve, our goal should be to optimize growth processes, not eliminate them, to achieve a truly competitive and just society that contributes to the prosperity of all its citizens in the freedom that only democracy can provide for human beings.