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Comment by ojame | Hacker News Reader

I’m not OP so can’t answer your question literally. If you’re questioning why use the phrase “elite” and not professional or competitive:

You can be a professional (by definition being paid) athlete and still never be in the top 10% of players (see decades of PGA [golf], ATP [tennis] results etc). I’m not sure on the definition, but there’s absolutely tiers of professional players. Take the NBA (basketball) - there’s over 500 players in the competition, they’re good by definition but there’s a subset that are elite. There’s further subsets, for example “generational” which are “once in a generation talent” etc.

However, being an Olympian doesn’t make you elite by default (in fact there’s numerous “loop hole” athletes that prove this is the case, eg Elizabeth Swaney).

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yes i was asking about the phrase. to me its just strange to refer to yourself as 'elite'. as far as i know the phrase is usually used in praise of someone else

I'm guessing it's a language issue. Might be a cognate word of elite with different connotations in OP's first language.

No, in English this is a very common phrasing in some sports.

For instance, major running events typically have an “elite” start vs the mass start for non-elites. And elite is the exact word used.

it is common if you are describing someone else, yes. rarely it is used in english to describe yourself. the term besically means being superior. i think it is strange to refer to yourself as superior also

Elite means being among the best at something.

Professional means getting paid to do something.

Not all elite athletes are professional athletes, and not all professional athletes are elite athletes.

I think professional is that you're not only paid, but that it's your principal form of income.

It was very normal for those in the Elite Athlete program at my uni to refer to themselves as elite athletes

There's probably a lot of context missing here.

Take the London marathon for example. Anyone can take part, but only a few people are allowed to start at the front. Runners must achieve a certain time at other accredited marathons to be able to start at the front. Those who do are classed as Elite level runners.

So I don't see it as a boastful thing, just a matter of fact. If thewizardofaus has reached this status in their sport, then it's reasonable to use the term when describing themselves.

This might be a language thing. In Denmark "elite" is the official label assigned to those who compete at the highest level in any given sport. So say a runners club may have an "elite" team or "elite" runners. It's just a label really, nothing else.

Not sure why you were downvoted for the original question, it's a reasonable query.

In most sports, there isn't really a formal distinction between elite or competitive or whatever. Professional just means paid, elite or not (lots of golf pros would not be elite by most people's definition).

Anyways, in my little corner of athletics (local 5k-10k running, mountain biking), if a promotor has an "elite" category, it's usually just the name for the fastest wave of athletes. They probably get a front-row start, at a marathon they might have their own hydration/nutrition at aid stations, and they may or may not receive an appearance fee. Local running clubs (competitive ones) tend to have "elite" divisions, where athletes must qualify by pace/results, and this gets them club-funded event entries and possibly travel expenses. In mountain biking, at least outside the realm of international sanctioning bodies, the fastest category is often labelled "expert/elite" or similar and athletes self-select into it (vs sport/intermediate, beginner, masters 45+, or other categories).

> Not sure why you were downvoted for the original question, it's a reasonable query

i am confused too. i am genuinely curious about this label

There are a fair number of "loop hole" athletes at the Beijing games, Men's Giant Slalom has the most.

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