1/7/2023 0 Comments Medal totalsThese tend to be events that are individual in nature and for which a lot of medals are handed out per event. What about the one gold medal these two countries with huge coastlines and beach cultures didn’t win? That’s right, it went to Australia.Ī country can also win more medals by strategically focusing on events in which it is relatively easy to win medals. 4 Consider the sport of beach volleyball, where seven of the eight gold medals awarded (and 15 out of the 24 total medals awarded) were won by the U.S. Economists Moonjoong Tcha and Vitaly Pershin show that focusing on comparative advantage significantly boosts medal performance. Countries with high altitudes have an advantage in training long-distance runners compared to sea-level countries. Countries with a lot of coastline often have an advantage in swimming, surfing, and boating compared to landlocked countries. The Canadian government has been strong with its support.Īlong these lines, countries can beat the system by focusing on their comparative advantages. For example, the first Olympics trampoline competition was held in 2000, and circa 2012 Canada is fielding a strong group of veterans, with a good chance to take home some medals. Today, countries’ efforts are often more modest. In the old days, the communist countries boosted their medal totals with big investments in training and rewards for the top athletes in the case of the Soviet Union, the investment was extensive and pretty much across the board in most of the major events. won 47 medals in their 2008 “pre-host” Olympics, far more than they won in any Games since 1908 (they won 28 and 30 in 20, respectively). In track cycling in Beijing, Britain won seven of the 10 events and 12 medals in the area the country hadn’t been expected to attain such heights for another four years. Britain was investing in its athletic future. A $7.8 million grant, funded out of lottery revenues, gave Hoy and others the luxury of training full-time. The turning point came when Chris Hoy won three gold medals at the Beijing games. 3įor example, 10 years ago, Britain was not a major power in the sport of track cycling. Host countries, many years in advance, ramp up their athletic investments to have a good showing when the eyes of the world are focused on them, and generally those investments succeed even before the host games. Interestingly, the host country also does better in the Olympiad immediately before it hosts (but after it knows it will be hosting). It is well known that countries who are hosting the games tend to earn significantly more medals than their respective incomes and populations predict. The first way is for national governments to make a priority of the Olympics and funnel extra resources into recruiting and training athletes. There are ways to beat the system and outperform your fundamentals. 2 Other Strategies for SuccessĪll is not lost for the smaller and poorer countries of the world, though. In the 2008 Beijing games, 65 percent of the gold medals were won by athletes from only 10 of the 200 countries that competed. And, since population and wealth are not distributed equally across countries, neither are Olympic medals. So, being rich in raw materials (people) and having the wealth to develop them are the main economic determinants of Olympic success. So the second main factor that economists use to predict Olympic success is per-capita income. If a country is made up of subsistence farmers, it is not going to have much athletic infrastructure, government or private support, or even enough well-nourished citizens to excel in sports on the global stage. As in most areas of modern life, money matters too. Team USA madness, profiles of the most fascinating athletes, and on-the-ground reporting from Bill Simmons.īut population isn’t everything.
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