Buying Gold
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Only just spotted this, and its spot on:
Quote:Throughout the cold war, Soviet bloc nations used sport as a proxy for economic success. With the connivance of the International Olympic Committee, they turned what used to be an amateur sport into the equivalent of a national defence force, hurling money and status at their athletes while the IOC turned the Games into a lavish field of the cloth of gold – at some poor taxpayer’s expense.The British now copy this: After 1996
Quote:The subsidy to “elite” sport was increased tenfold, from £5m to £54m, while popular sports facilities were closing. Money was directed specifically at disciplines where individuals could win multiple medals rather than just one, away from field athletics to cycling and gymnastics. It worked. The medals tally at Sydney 2000 rose from 15 to 28.£350 million has been spent on the Olympic and Paraolympic teams £4 million per gold medal. That's what they cost. Also, unstated a lot of the time, the UK sent the eighth biggest team to the olympics, 372 athletes. Eighth of just over 200 teams. You'd expect such a big team to come somewhere in the medal rankings. The US sent over 500 athletes. So, it's hardly surprising they top the tables. As Jenkins says:
Quote:The nationalisation of sport – the hamfisted draping in the union jack after breasting the tape – so clearly diminishes the individual achievement.I've often thought the emphasis on elite sport doesn't translate to widespread participation or might even discourage it. Someone on Radio 4 one morning last week tried to make this point to an elite athlete but to no avail.
You might be interested in something I wrote on the occasion of the last Olympiad: http://wezselecta.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bread-and-circuses_1.html
I like your blog, but even magnified, the white text on the dark background is difficult to read and spoils the pleasure somewhat.
The television does not show the social reality of Brazil. They demolished several poor neighborhoods before the Olympic took place, and the cleansing was done by two left wing governments.They do not show the protests and police brutalities that is taking place outside .The Soviets and the Americans were not the only ones that used Sports in order to propagate their imperialist aim, also the Cuban government has used sports to claim their socialist success
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