Many countries invest a considerable amount of money and resources to prepare athletes for International events like the Olympics. But what are the returns? Why are they willing to spend resources for medals?
In: Economics
I can only speak for the United States, but our Olympic athletes do not receive and money from the government.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite – the various sports have a committee and it is run like a business- a highly profitable business for the more popular sports.
Take USA gymnastics – they have $107,819,552 in assets. So not only are they a business, but a very successful one. The make their money through sponsorships, TV deals, tickt sales for live competitions, and countless other ways.
These are sports with large fan bases, they’re not all that different than professional sports teams.
A couple of big reasons:
1. it gives a national pride, bring a large group of random ass people together.
2. provide a positive role model, as having fit citizen is pretty beneficial to a nation.
3. improve international relation, this is why Olympic hosting nation rotates.
Sports are a government allowed distraction from the problems facing a country. Same reason the Romans held the gladiator fights, to distract from the bigger problems facing the empire
Just so they can say they’re better than the rest of the world mostly. Why do we spend money on super nice cars and the newest phones etc when average stuff will do the job almost if not just as well.
At the end of the day people run countries. People have egos. Countries are not always acting to the best benefit thier people as a whole, more likely just to.benefit powerful people that make decisions and thier friends.
Tourism dollars etc don’t hurt, but the same $ could make more $ invested elsewhere more efficiently.
Olympics are supposed to bring in tourism dollars. Both during the games, but also after, people see and learn about the country, decide to visit.
Generally speaking theres not a great deal of interest in hosting anymore. The cities that do bid are often places who already possess most of the facilities. The ioc prefers someone who will spend a few billion though, so expect china to be a recurring host.
Country invests in sport -> country does well in sport -> more people watch sport -> more people take up sport -> healthier people. Also sport costs money to watch or play which is good for business.
Because people like sports. People spend money to do things they like, and they are generally okay with their governments using some of the money they raise on things they like
Because it’s yet another way to show that the country is better than other countries.
Countries don’t *have* to do it. In the 90s and probably prior, the UK government didn’t invest in Olympic opportunities, and as a result team Great Britain usually didn’t win too many Olympic medals, but in the 00s they decided to start, and more recent Olympics they have been performing better.
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