Sports in a less competitive environment

About the 3 Filipino climbers who have reached Mt. Everest, it's a good occasion to celebrate. Though I feel one of them is wrong when he claimed that "the Filipinos have achieved the impossible." What's impossible in climbing that mountain? Until this month, more than 3,000 people have climbed that mountain since 1953.Mountaineering is not a competitive sport. And it's dangerous to make it one.

Climbing big mountains like Everest is more on setting records. Like youngest person, oldest person, to climb the summit; first person to reach the summit without oxygen tank, first amputee to reach the summit, and so on.What is really rewarding is when a Filipino ever wins a gold in the Olympics in any of its 100+ sports events. Or when a Filipino cyclist ever rides in any of the 20 teams in the Tour de France (even if his team does not win). Or a Filipino ever reaches world tennis' top 20, or be a driver in any of the 10 teams in Formula 1, etc.

My beef is that we're not so much a competitive nation. Our political leaders, NGO leaders, even many business leaders, hate competition. They like protectionism. Tax and protect, tax and subsidize, tax and monopolize. And this mentality seeps unto various spheres of our lives, from sports to business to international trade.