This is most especially true in sports. For every tennis, soccer, NBA players that became professional, thousands of others had failed despite the fact they all started at a very young age and went through the same rigorous training throughout their lives.

Simply being better did not guarantee that they would make it. Example: Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal captain soccer player, often wondered how he could even made it into a professional soccer team. He still did not understand why many of his peers from La Masia Academy back in the days, despite having more talents and being so much better players than him, just could not succeed in the end.

Meritocracy is truly a false belief.