Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Privateer]

Any theories on what it is about America that makes it dominate the Olympics so massively?

Take a look at this web page and you see they have a massive lead over everyone else in overall medals and golds both, and they've averaged 30-40 gold medals ever since the Olympics started. The worst they ever did was 11 golds way back in 1896, and the best was 83 in 1984.

Yes, America has advantages:-

In wealth: it's a clear leader and has been since the latter 19th century.
In population: obviously a factor but think of Russia, China, and India.
In culture: Do they have a more competitive attitude to sport? Clearly they're a sport-loving nation but can we really say they have more competitiveness than China or Russia? Do they idolize sporting heroes more than other countries, thus motivating them more?
Immigration: America attracts talent from around the world and also provides opportunity for talented atheletes who perhaps might never have made it in their home countries. But it's obvious homegrown athletes win the bulk of the medals, so they'd dominate even without immigration.

Is wealth the deciding factor? Wealth alone? Discuss.

[Czarjorge]

The US wasn't economically or politically powerful until the end of the depression. We weren't the new kids anymore, but the US's world power status is a direct result of WWII.

Money is a factor, but the biggest factor is immigration. The best in most things, be it sports or science or whatever, seek to come to the US because of the economics and increased freedoms associated with the country. Look at who ruled at this Olympics. Alot of our teams or Olympians were either immigrants or the children of former Olympians who were immigrants. Breeding is also a factor. The gene pool in the US is more diverse than the rest of the world, and there is more potential for genetic freaks to arise in that sort of climate. Good examples would be Phelps or Armstrong. They're both physically suited for their sports due to their unique bodies.

The money part of it is more than just support by the US Olympic committee. Companies support athletes as well. Home Depot is a good example in that they have a specific program for Olympians where they allow these people greater freedoms in their employment than their average employee.

Lastly, 'Americans' have been told we're the best from birth. It's not necessarily true, but that sort of soft nationalism leads us to support things like the Olympics. Public interest is high for a few months after each Olympics and the new breed of Olympians comes out of this. The female gymnasts that ruled the single competition were motivated to become gymnasts by previous US gymnasts. I'm not sure if that enthusiasm is as present in other countries. Also, we don't relax as a people. US citizens have the highest productivity because of this. You have to work very hard to excel to the Olympic level in sports, and that sort of determination is considered ideal in the US where in other cultures it would be considered unhealthy.

[Thunndarr]

Wealth: well, yes. People who are too poor to eat probably can't devote a lot of time to frivolus non-food producing activities such as sport.

Population/Immigration: I put these together. A large population + the genetic diversity that comes with immigration(not saying genetics is the be all and end all, mind you, but it does help) coupled with the standard of living offered by the U.S. (chance to devote time to training rather than scrounging for food) means that there are a large number of potential Olympic athletes.

Culture: No, I don't think people in the U.S. are any more competitive than people anywhere else.

[Gopher]

[djsmnc]

Americans are superior. Bow down.

[Ukon]

How about a much greater support for a variety of sports?

Not to mention the huge amount of Americans who go to college...sometimes solely for sports.....even really obscure ones.

I'm sure they're plenty of excellent, would be Olympic athletes in the world who never had a Gym in High school or even a sports team. Can't exactly train right by yourself, let alone gauge how good you are on the world stage.

If your fastest runner in Kenya, it's not gonna matter if you live in the middle of nowhere....at 18 years of age they're gonna say "get a job", not "OMG you could be an world class athlete, try to get a college scholarship!"

[MANDRL]

America dominating the Olympics...not bad for a country known as being the fattest on the planet.

[Gopher]

[Czarjorge]

[Gopher]

[JMO]

I'd say the right mix of wealth and poverty coupled with demographics. Wealth to pay for everything an athlete need and poverty to motivate the athletes to get to where they are. University athletics is almost uniquely american in its scope and that is also a big advantage.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Our whole educational system from middle school on up has a department dedicated to nurturing the talented athletes; every community has a Little League, even tiny little burgs out in the middle of no where; any town of any size has a swimming pool and tennis courts. Various sports have been supported by communtities since at least the Civil War, so we have had soccer moms for generations. A hundred years ago Teddy Roosevelt intervened in college athletics when too many were getting injured. Community newspapers support the local teams by giving free publicity. That is an important factor. Our universities struggle against being just sports factories. We have an array of professional leagues that offer highly paid positions to those who make the team--how many school kids dream of playing in the NBA and getting rich?

In short, we have a strong culture for finding and developing athletes and the money to pull it off.

[bassexpander]

A few reasons:

1. Lots of emphasis on school sporting activities helps weed-out the best athletes. In a country like China, you may have five times the number of great athletes, but they'll never be noticed because they'll never get a proper chance to be discovered. This is changing.

2. A mix of races. We have a melting pot of bodies from different parts of the world with a wide range of abilities.

3. A lot of interest in sports and being number one.

4. Interest in doing well at the olympics, so there is a lot of money put into sponsorship and training of athletes.

Interestingly, Americans are losing interest in they Olympics as a whole. Frankly, I haven't expected them to do so well this time around. I think you'll see drops in metal counts in the future.

[Privateer]

[ReeseDog]