# Name a competitive activity humans engage in but never cheat at **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295 "2019-07-19T08:05:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/61 "2019-07-26T20:33:21Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > What my sister did was, she would cut the cookie into two pieces - one big and one small. And use psychological pressure to try to coerce me into taking the small one :dubious: My brother probably would have cut the cookie in half, then eat both pieces while keeping the knife pointed at me. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/62 "2019-07-26T21:56:25Z")
> [@borschevsky](#): > > I saw a kid cheat in tic-tac-toe just the other day. Their opponent got up to get a drink, and they swapped an X with an O on the board. That adds credence to a rule I’ve always lived by: \*Never \*drink and play tic-tac-toe. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/63 "2019-07-27T12:47:20Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > In what way are they cheating? There have been many instances of people in their 70s stealing the identities of their recently-deceased parents in their 90s, for the purposes of stealing their pension payments. I recall reading about one Japanese town back in the '90s where this was quite rampant. There were inquiries made as to why this one town had so many long-lived people, and basically everyone in town just basically lied their asses off about lifestyles&shit, in order to keep the money flowing. ---
**Author:** ![Sirhomealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@Sirhomealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sirhomealot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/64 "2025-12-08T16:46:26Z")
Competitive skateboarding. Whether it’s ramp, street, freestyle, or even olympic, it’s just you and your board. You either perform better than the other skaters or you don’t. i can’t think of a single way you could cheat. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/65 "2025-12-08T17:33:42Z")
Payola. Bribe the judges. See also: > **[2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Winter_Olympics_figure_skating_scandal)** > > At the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, allegations arose that the pairs' figure skating competition had been fixed. The controversy led to two pairs teams receiving gold medals: the original winners Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia and original silver-medalists Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada. The scandal was one of the causes for the revamp of scoring in figure skating to the new ISU Judging System. > In the figure skating pairs competition, Elena Berezhnay... ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/66 "2025-12-08T17:38:11Z")
> There have been many instances of people in their 70s stealing the identities of their recently-deceased parents in their 90s, for the purposes of stealing their pension payments. I recall reading about one Japanese town back in the '90s where this was quite rampant. I know it’s been 6 years since the above was posted here, but I’m curious: In Japan, where would the pension payments to a deceased person normally go? (In the U.S., pension accounts normally have a specific amount of money in them per person, which becomes part of the your estate when you die. Then the estate gets distributed to the legitimate heirs.) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/67 "2025-12-08T17:57:13Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > I know it’s been 6 years since the above was posted here, but I’m curious: In Japan, where would the pension payments to a deceased person normally go? I don’t know enough about Japan’s pension system to say, I was just referencing a general interest story I read many years ago. Although it’s worth noting, stealing your dead parent’s identity is still a thing today: > **[Italian man accused of dressing up as his dead mom to claim her pension | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/25/europe/italy-pension-fraud-mother-scli-intl)** > > It was the dark hair on the back of the neck, hands and chin of the elderly woman renewing her identity card that first tipped off authorities to an alleged crime and led to the arrest of a 57-year-old man in northern Italy. ---
**Author:** ![Sirhomealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@Sirhomealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sirhomealot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/68 "2025-12-08T17:57:46Z")
Hmm. I guess technically that’s cheating, but to my mind, it represents a different level, because now you’re undermining the competition itself, as opposed to finding a means of elevating your performance. In your example, it wasn’t the Russian skaters that cheated, it was the Russian Olympic team (or whoever arranged the payola) that orchestrated the cheat. Obviously, skateboarding isn’t immune to such a scheme, but it’s notable that the only instance of bribery connected to the skateboard world I could find, had nothing to do with the judging of an event: [https://iol.co.za/news/2017-01-23-skate-body-to-take-legal-action-against-tourism-department/](https://iol.co.za/news/2017-01-23-skate-body-to-take-legal-action-against-tourism-department/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/69 "2025-12-08T19:18:40Z")
So are you saying that a boarder who bribes the judge to give them the top marks isn’t cheating? I don’t see a “technically” there. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/70 "2025-12-08T19:30:01Z")
Re: skateboarding— how about sabotaging your opponent’s board? Or putting drugs in their food/drink? Also I don’t know if it would help, but adding a motor — possibly one oriented to help spin the board. I posit there are activities (perhaps curling is one) where cheating is extremely rare, but doubt any where it is zero. Well as far as I know there is no cheating in 7 person mixed gender bobsled, but there is also no activity… Brian ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/71 "2025-12-08T19:35:32Z")
If I burn a rock and don’t declare it, that’s cheating. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/72 "2025-12-08T19:46:54Z")
How about marbles? ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/73 "2025-12-08T20:57:17Z")
During the past decade or so, chess has gone from “cheating is difficult and rare” to “ cheating is a huge issue”. The essential problems are that even ordinary computer power is sufficient to give very useful guidance to even high-level players, and that surreptitious communication is easier than ever. In some cases it’s not difficult to detect after the fact: you check to see how closely a suspect player’s moves matched those suggested by popular “chess engine” software. Magnus Carlsen (world #1) has said it would be easy for him to cheat with a very low probability of ever being caught. He just needs an associate to signal when the relatively uncommon situation arises that one (probably obscure) move yields a big advantage over reasonable-seeming alternatives. He then would know it’s worth taking time to find that one important move. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/74 "2025-12-08T23:22:31Z")
Probably “never cheat” might be too strong, but back when I watched televised snooker (which is, or was, a pretty significant sport in the UK. Where the leading players were celebrities) I was always amazed by the fact the players would always admit to violations, or seemed to. E.g. If their waistcoat (they played in waistcoats,.aka vests, cos snooker 😉 ) brushed a ball while taking a shot they would immediately stand up and point out the fact to the referee. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/75 "2025-12-09T00:08:59Z")
> [@Sirhomealot](#): > > Competitive skateboarding. Whether it’s ramp, street, freestyle, or even olympic, it’s just you and your board. You either perform better than the other skaters or you don’t. i can’t think of a single way you could cheat. At least one snowboarder was disqualified due to testing positive for weed. I wonder if that would also apply to yoyo tricks. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/76 "2025-12-09T00:23:34Z")
Not sure if that would be considered cheating. Is weed a performance enhancing drug? Breach of the rules, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Sirhomealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@Sirhomealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sirhomealot)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/77 "2025-12-09T01:00:00Z")
Do you really think weed is cheating? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/78 "2025-12-09T01:56:47Z")
There was a lot of discussion at the time about - how could that be _enhancing_? Also about - that just means he’s a snowboarder. I think what it came down to was that it was a test that they had and he came back positive. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/79 "2025-12-09T03:46:49Z")
Yes. His protest was upheld and he got his gold medal back. It was Ross Rebagliati at the Nagano Olympics in 2004. > Because marijuana was not found to be performance enhancing, the protest was upheld, and the gold medal was returned. [https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/ross-rebagliati](https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/ross-rebagliati) ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-competitive-activity-humans-engage-in-but-never-cheat-at/837295/80 "2025-12-09T05:40:49Z")
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