Sportsmanship/legitimacy

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 151970

Geoff:
Being pedantic, he couldn't have on his own.
<skip>
So he was only one of a minimum of five people involved in decision 
making.

a_svirn:
Fair point. But other four don't particularly interest me. That 
Bagman is involved in double-dealing of every kind, or Karkaroff is 
unfair etc. is only to be expected. That Dumbledore stoops to their 
level is something else again. 

Geoff:
At this point in time, it does not seem likely to the organisers 
that there will
be any
conflict between the age limit and the binding contract.

a_svirn:
There isn't any conflict between the two. The magical contract is 
unfair by its very nature, because it is one-sided – champions are 
magically compelled to compete, while the jury and the organizing 
committee have no compunction to be fair in return. Which means that 
champions are effectively their hostages for the duration of the 
tournament. 

Geoff:
No one is to know that there is an impostor in the school whose 
agenda is to use
The Tournament as a tool to destroy Harry and thus the Wizarding 
World, who will confound the Goblet into "thinking" that Harry is a 
bone fide competitor and thus throw a spanner in the works.

a_svirn:
For one thing Dumbledore could have an inkling that something of 
that nature might happen, since he was so adept in "reading the 
signs". For another what is the reason d'être of the binding 
contracts? Except for providing an excellent opportunity for 
cheating I can think of any. 

Alla:
I am arguing that
character DOES matter and it also matters at the real world sport
competitions and it does not go unrecognised at least sometimes.

a_svirn:
But not at the expense of the others. 

Alla:
And I completely disagree that other champions were punished. They
were just not rewarded. Because none of them tried to save other
hostages.

a_svirn:
They didn't HAVE TO save other hostages. What's wrong with Cedric's 
and Krum's character? Are you saying that they deliberately 
abandoned other hostages to the certain death?  

And they certainly *were* punished. For one thing this is the nature 
of contest: when your rival gains you loose. Since Harry should have 
been on the third place, and was promoted to the first, Cedric and 
Krum were correspondingly demoted – Cedric should have had 
unchallenged advantage and had to share with Harry instead, and Krum 
had two people ahead of him instead of one. For what crime?

For another thing, crediting Harry with points for fiber casts 
aspirations on Krum's and Cedric's fiber. They did exactly what they 
should have done and got ugly slurs cast on their character for 
their pains. Even you seem to doubt them. 

Alla:
Now, if there is canon that other champions knew for sure that the
hostages are not in danger, I will of course abandon this part of my
argument, but I honestly don't remember any such canon.

a_svirn:
You mean to say that there was a logical possibility that Dumbledore 
would sacrifice his students in order to test champions' character? 
You are hard on the old man.