Yeah I can't imagine it being used in a rescue context, you tend to see a lot of sports climbers using it, it's also more common in Spain - they have another variation where they thread it all the way back through itself so it's extremely safe, but still benefits from easy untying.

Bowline is useful if you are likely to take lots of falls on a single rope as with sport climbing (bolts) with frequent untying, where figure of eight can become very difficult to undo. Technically figure of eight is stronger in terms of _rope_ failure, but this is not usually the most important thing for climbing since if the instant force is strong enough for that to be a concern you are going to break your back anyway. It is however unsafer in the sense of being more easy to tie badly, for that reason I'd never encourage a novice climber to use it over a figure of eight - but when you are experienced, and are taking falls (and have a routine to check the knot), this knot saves your fingers and your rope from a lot of unnecessary stress. In a rescue context though I can't see any benefit, so figure of eight for sure.

Yeah, different priorities. Sport climbing you're trying to minimize hassle, and can do it frequently enough to be confident tying a secure bowline. I get to play with ropes maybe every other month between training and actual incidents. That's infrequent enough that sticking with a simple, bomb-proof knot like the figure-8 is the safer bet.

Like you said, the figure-8 excels in strength (which matters more in rescue, since you're often dealing with loads heavier than a single climber), and has the added advantage of being easily inspected. I can look at a figure-8 someone else tied and have a high degree of confidence very quickly; I feel like that's harder with the bowline (since it's asymmetrical, etc).