OLYMPICS -ECONOMICS AND MEDAL TALLY

By Ruma Dubey

London Olympics 2012 is coming to an end on 12th August. The magic of Bolt and Phelps remains etched in the mind and for us Indians, while the poor performance of the hockey team (our ‘National’ game?) causes immense frustration, the heart is also warmed by the bronze medal won by Mary Kom.  The sheer spirit of the game, the story behind the immense preparation which an Olympiad goes through to participate and win, the wet eyes when the flag goes up and the national anthem gets played; all go on to make historic Olympic stories. But more than anything else, this time, like it was in Beijing 2008, the games have become more about the medal tally. The question is not which athlete won the most but which country won the most. And this race to get the most medals reeks of what – national pride or assertion of economic strength?

It is both – national pride as well as economic might. The rise of China has been phenomenal, raising debates about whether it is right in exerting pressure, running virtual boot camps to create medal winning athletes.

The medal count as of now – USA leads with 90 medals of which 39 are gold. It is followed closely by China with 80 medals and 37 gold. In third place is Russia, then Great Britain, followed by Germany , Japan, France,  Australia South Korea and Italy. These are the top 10 countries in the medal tally and they account for 54% of the total gold medals given till now. In the 2008 Beijing games, 65% of the gold medals were won by athletes from only 10 of the 200 countries that competed. This Olympics, a total of 2300 medals will be given, out of which 302 are gold.

So the big question is – what makes these countries win such piles of medals in Olympics when India, with a population of over a billion people and still counting, continues to flounder in the bronze ages?

Tim Hollingsworth, the Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association has aptly said, “When you create a world class environment you are far more likely to create world class athletes.”  Most of the top 10 countries in the metal tally have done precisely that – created world class facilities for the athletes to train and nurture. But to create world class facilities, the country needs to be rich, which means the per capita income has been amongst the best.  Yet, that alone is not enough or else, Qatar, which is the number one country in the world, when it comes to per capita income at $88,000, followed by Luxemborg, Singapore, Norway, Brunei  and UAE, the top 6 in the world, should have won all the medals. Yet, they figure out nowhere in the list. USA comes at number seven and yet, it is the number one currently in the Olympics medal tally. India ranks 129th.

Thus apart from per capita income, something more is required. It is a mix of various factors but the first and foremost being that the Govt funnels resources to train athletes as a national priority.  During the cold war times, when Olympics was held, countries vied to increase their metal tally to gain geopolitical mileage; it was not enough to merely be a economic super power, the country needed to establish supremacy in the Olympics too. And for Communist regimes like China and Russia, getting people to train did not require any diplomacy; they just had to spot talent, uproot the child and family and train them for gold. China continues to do the same.  Interestingly, over 40% of the winners in Olympics for India, come from the army so doesn’t that mean to win in Olympics, one needs to be authoritarian, something which even Saina Nehwal’s coach, Gopi Krishna agrees with.

Having a huge population is a great advantage  but ‘Catching em’ young’  is apt for creating a medal winning Olympian, which is what China does.  For India, the problem is of undernourished children. MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, in their book, ‘Poor Economics’ have stated that India's dismal Olympic performance is at least partly to very poor child nutrition, rating it much below sub-Saharan Afrcia, which is much poorer than India. Thus having a huge population is an asset but like a bank, the asset quality needs to be strong.

In terms of gold medal ranking, Kazakhstan is at 11th place with 6 golds, better than Japan and Netherland, New Zealand and many more. How could this country, ranking 70th in terms of world ranking in per capita income, win so many golds?  By focusing on it’s comparative advantages. Four golds of the total six were for weightlifting. Or take the case of Jamaica – it won 9 medals in all, of which 3 are gold, but all for athletics. Kenya won 7 medals, all for athletics. By concentrating on their strengths and honing them further, these countries have done much better on all counts despite being economically not too well off.

There does exist a connection between the economic strength of a country and the medal tally. India clocks a good GDP growth rate but has pathetic per capita income, which is an indication of income per person. This dichotomy clears shows how non-inclusive the GDP growth is and this is the crux , to a large extent as to why we do not have enough Olympic medal winning sportsmen. From a population of over 1.2 billion, only four win medals?  Yes, unless our issues of roti, kapda, makaan and bijli are not resolved, we can only look with envy at China.

PS: Goldman Sachs has predicted USA to top the medal tally, followed by China.