When I was a small boy I was taught Poomsae kicks shouldn't be higher than your head. This somewhat limited the technique spectacularity in order to meet the imaginary fight concept. I've always liked very high kicks, also because I was sooo flexible in my prime. However, I used to think this rule was pretty fair, because it prevented technique competitions to become split-only competitions, being high kicks already prevailing in the judges' score. Besides, if all techniques have an ideal target (for instance high fists can't be higher than your nose), why should kicks be indefinitely high? The answer is: because they are beautiful. Therefore, as the aesthetic excellence principle replaced the imaginary fight concept in the Kukkiwon guidelines for Poomsae evolution, high kicks became not only allowed but even encouraged, to a degree where the perfect kick is only the vertical kick. So this discipline witnessed the rise of incredible kickers like Su Ji Kang and Elif Yilmaz, capable of depicting rock-steady splits in the air, leaving open mouthed whoever is lucky enough to watch them live. However, this has cut out of the top podiums those solid performers who are not that gifted on the flexibility side, and now cannot but feel disadvanteged in what counts the most. And sometimes, when you look at those light legs, easily unfolding in the air, you don't only feel inferior. You feel offended. Because when beauty is a privilege, it can't help being painful to those who are excluded.
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