Ben Pridmore has recently announced that he will not be competing in the 2011 World Memory Championship. I read his blog at
http://zoomy.blogspot.com/2011/11/world-memory-championship-update.html
That stated:”
This isn’t the kind of decision I take lightly, you know. The World Memory Championship has basically been my entire life for the last decade. But this year’s event just doesn’t feel like the World Memory Championship any more. It’s very sad…
I do feel guilty about depriving people of the opportunity to beat me, of course. When I won the WMC in 2004, I got no end of “Well, Dominic O’Brien wasn’t there” responses, even though I would have totally beaten him if he had been. I’m not sure if my absence would have that effect on this year’s winner, but I still feel bad about it.
posted by Zoomy at 4:38 PM”
I boycotted the 2010 for similar reasons although because my memory is not at the high level of Ben’s nor do I have his credentials in the memory world no one really cared. I couldn’t agree more with Ben’s assessment and finally someone with some weight in the sport as spoke up and said something.