Reason for USA's Olympic domination

[garnet]

Originally Posted by lookout123

do you think that most of the other athletes come from the slums? do you think all of our athletes were born into wealthy families?

I guarantee you any athlete from Russia or Jamaica (or wherever) came from a family with much lower income and a lower standard of living than that the average American althlete's family.

Originally Posted by lookout123

but, are you aware how many NBA players are playing for other countries olympic teams?

At least those guys SHOWED UP to play for their countries.

Originally Posted by lookout123

these folks will be minor celebrities in america for a short time, collect handsomely on commercials and appearances, and then be forgotten until the next olympics.

No, there's not anything wrong with it--I'd do the same thing if I were them. I'm just saying that it doesn't work that way in most other countries.

Originally Posted by lookout123

and do you really believe that the guy from Kazakhstan is going back home to work in a coal mine (or whatever they do there)? he will be every bit the celebrity and source of national pride in his land as our athletes are in ours. and he will fade from their minds quickly, just as ours will.

I know nothing about Kazakhstan, so I wouldn't even venture a guess on that. But I doubt if he will be as "comfortable" for the rest of his life as Carly Patterson or Michael Phelps.

[Happy Monkey]

Australia is warm, and Canada is cold. Australia does well in the Summer Olympics, and Canada does well in the Winter Olympics.

China and Germany beat Australia, and are both more socialistic than Canada.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by wolf

The rest of them will become gym teachers and torture fat children.

And don't forget the introverted, pencil-necked skinny geeks... also de rigeur on any respectable gym class torture list.

So how much of the training costs are borne by atheletes & families, and how much by corporate sponsors?

[garnet]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

So how much of the training costs are borne by atheletes & families, and how much by corporate sponsors?

I don't have the answer to that, but I know Michael Phelps was doing the cell phone commercial before the Olympics even started. I'm guessing he didn't do it for free--he either got the $$$ upfront or they paid for some of his expenses. That's not a put-down--it's totally legit for him to do that. You also see alot of Nike and other logos on on the athlete's clothing and other gear (not just Americans). Nike was providing that stuff, most likely for free, to get their logo on TV.

[TheSnake]

Natural born talents, plus the focus of will, is a potent combination.

[jaguar]

Australia is a bit of an oddity but generally fits in line with expectations, read the article. I was not aware Canada had a larger population than the US.

Athens is empty because everyone is on holiday at the moment here, terrorism and the anti-terror stuff is so extreme it's more scary than the threat of terrorism. Who wants to spend their holidays having their bags continually searched, being vetted to make sure they're not wearing the wrong logos, being watched by countless security cameras and a gigantic fucking security blimp.

[busterb]

Bill O'Liely again.

"Americans should be very proud of our Olympic people, and we largely are. Politicians could learn a lot from the competitive forces that have resulted in our success. We are a great nation because individual Americans have worked insanely hard to develop their God-given abilities. I'm one of them, (Drum roll,)and you probably are as well."

[tw]

from The Economist of 12 Aug 2004
THEY have a dismal track record when it comes to predicting economic growth, exchange rates or the direction of the stockmarket. So you might have expected economists to despair at the thought of forecasting sports results. Not at all. Efforts to work out the number of medals which countries are likely to get in the Athens Olympics, which start on August 13th, are well under way.

Two economists, Andrew Bernard of the Tuck School of Business, and Meghan Busse of the Haas School of Business, accurately predicted the number of medals that American athletes would take home in the Sydney games four years ago (97), as well as the number of gold medals (39). For nine other countries, they were only one medal out. Whether luck played its part ... can be tested: the two recently published their predictions for the Athens games. They think that America will get 93 medals.

Their predictions rely entirely on totting up economic statistics. Two are key: population and wealth. More people means a higher chance of producing a top triple jumper. And the higher a country's income, the better the odds that a synchronised swimmer, say, will receive the training and facilities needed to compete with the world's best. Hosting the games also gives a boost to the medal tally, not least because of the support of local fans. The two economists expect Greece to more than double the number of medals that it wins compared with four years ago.

For those inclined to ponder such things, instead of marvelling at the skills in beach volleyball or rhythmic gymnastics, the Athens games also help undermine the notion of a widening gap between rich and poor countries. The share of medals won by the biggest and richest countries has been shrinking over the past 40 years. In 1960, the top ten medal-winning countries won 78% of the total medals, compared with 55% in 2000. Although they are tipping America to win the most medals in Athens, the two economists expect America's harvest of medals to decline this year for the third games in a row.

.

[funkykule]

"Many Americans will suffer the pain of hard work to achieve their potential"

Astounding. like....man I see the light....I need to actually put in some effort in order to get anywhere in life...the should teach that in college.And it helps if you're american!
What a bollox. Hands up who want's to smack him one.

[Pi]

Isn't there a big problem with doping in America?
And really a guy like Phelps... He is really a good swimmer, but if you enter Olympic Games with the goal to win at least 8 gold medals, I say he needs some ethical training and history teaching about the real olympic spirit.

[depmats]

Originally Posted by Pi

And really a guy like Phelps... He is really a good swimmer, but if you enter Olympic Games with the goal to win at least 8 gold medals, I say he needs some ethical training and history teaching about the real olympic spirit.

Why? I thought the olymipic spirit was one of competition. Are these highly trained athletes supposed to make a pact that EVERYONE gets a medal?
I would think that qualification in 8 events and the ability to medal in them is something to admire. The guy had a goal to medal in all of his events. If he didn't have that as a goal then he should not have been in the event at all. Phelps was just great as far as I am concerned.

Ethical training my ass