A big thank you to everybody who contributed in our poll about this topic. Opinions were roughly evenly split. We have debated the topic again and have decided to allow the choice between real and digital cards for all athletes. We are aware there are arguments for both sides but for us, the decisive argument was the following:
- If somebody cannot do Speed Cards with real cards anymore, they should undoubtedly be given the chance to use digital cards.
- It is also our impression that digital Speed Cards is being perceived as faster by many athletes: the manual steps of starting and stopping the timer are eliminated and manual dexterity during memorization does not play a role anymore.
- But that leads to a paradoxical situation: someone who is allowed to do digital cards (in order to allow them to properly take part in the competition at all) is separated again from the rest of the field by having a potential advantage. That would turn an inclusive act into an exclusive one in the end and would lead to an uncomfortable and problematic situation for the person in question. We did not want that.
The only way we saw to remedy that problem was to give every athlete the option to choose. Equality and true inclusion were more important for us than the arguments in favor of making digital cards only a limited exception on medical grounds. Digital Speed Cards results will be also fully viable for the Speed Cards world record.The decision is effective immediately and for all upcoming tournaments. We hope that this decision finds your understanding and we wish all of you best of luck for your future Speed Cards attempts!
Your IAM team