Publication details
Steel Man: A Case Study on Equal Opportunities in Sport
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | STUDIA KINANTHROPOLOGICA |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://sk.pf.jcu.cz/artkey/stk-202503-0002_ocelovy-muz-pripadova-studie-rovnych-prilezitosti-ve-sportu.php |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.32725/sk.2026.001 |
| Keywords | equality in sports ethics; equality of opportunities; deontology; consequentialism; case study; Steel Man |
| Description | This study examines the ethical problem of fair opportunity in sport, using the Czech endurance-strength competition Steel Man (in Czech Ocelový muž ) as a case study. The event, founded in 1999 by Karel Vydra, combines five disciplines – pull-ups, sit-ups, bench press repetitions, a 5 km run, and a 40 km cycling time trial. It involved 40–70 participants per year, including men, women, and juniors. In 2017, the organisers introduced a new scoring system with recalculations based on age, sex, and body weight to achieve greater fairness. Archival records, scoring tables, and official results from 1999 to 2019 were examined through a conceptual-ethical analysis. The findings indicate that frequent mid-season rule changes and unclear coefficients produced inconsistent results, participant dissatisfaction, and declining attendance, culminating in the end of the national cup format after 2018. This paper provides a conceptual and ethical analysis of this case, demonstrating how the pursuit of fairness became self-defeating and outlining guidelines for sustainable fairness in similar competitions. The study concludes with recommendations for sustainable procedural fairness grounded in transparent, stable rules complemented by empirically validated compensatory mechanisms. |