LSAT 109 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q4

LR Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Unlike the ancient Olympic games on which they are based…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

ARGUMENTS: Juan argues that the presence of professional athletes violates the spirit of fairness essential to the Olympics. Amateur athletes rarely have the resources to compete with professionals.

Michiko argues that professionals should be allowed. The idea of the modern Olympics is to showcase the world’s best athletes.

ANALYSIS: Juan is arguing that money gives professionals an unfair advantage. The correct answer indicates that money doesn’t help.

___________

1. It doesn’t matter how many amateurs are there. What matters is whether they are able to compete effectively with the professionals. 
2. This sounds good but it is actually pretty vague. It could mean that amateurs dominate 3 out of 1,500 events and professionals dominate the rest. “Certain” is very imprecise.
3. This doesn’t affect Juan’s argument about the modern Olympics.
4. CORRECT. This destroys Juan’s argument. Professionals have more resources but it doesn’t seem to help them. 
5. The slightly strengthens Juan’s argument because it shows at least some amateurs lack support.