In an attempt not to make any child feel like a failure, proponents of progressive education attacked competitive sports. Their ideas are more than adequately described by this quotation from Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

There was no 'One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out 'The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, 'But who has won?'

This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, 'EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.'

Fortunately, it is reported that competitive sports are now going to be encouraged within state schools.

The increase in competitive sports will not only promote the desire to win and relegate the term 'second' into being a fancy word for 'loser' but will also promote a healthier lifestyle, hopefully reducing childhood obesity.

In addition if we do end up hosting the 2012 Olympics we may have encouraged talented young athletes into competing rather than just taking part.