athletic competition vs athletic contest

athletic competition and athletic contest both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
athletic competition	Yes	No	No	No
athletic contest	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, athletic competition and athletic contest are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of athletic competition include athletics.

athletic competition (noun)	athletic contest (noun)
a contest between athletes	a contest between athletes