A fair game can begin after an unfair distribution of opportunities to practice.

The contest can be scrupulously fair from the whistle and still sit on top of years of unequal preparation. Equal rules on the day do not make an equal event when access to coaching, time, and facilities was distributed very differently before anyone arrived. Fairness at the point of competition is the last and smallest part of it.

When you see an outcome, ask what happened before the start. This is the difference between judging results and understanding them. And where you have any influence over how opportunities are handed out, that stage is where the real fairness is decided, long before anyone is watching.