It’s very rare that an Irish writer will celebrate any achievements of our nearest rival on the sports field, but we must acknowledge the amazing achievements of the Brits in the Olympics. To take such a hoard of medals is impressive; to do so when you were so far behind 20 years ago suggests a management and business lesson for all of us.
There are so many overlaps between competitive sport and competitive economics that there is little doubt that the transformation of British athletics will be studied in business departments of universities for years to come.
All countries strive to enhance their economic performance in a competitive world. Small countries in particular have to find that clever trick or five that will help us achieve a better standard of living for all (or at least that is what governments should be striving for).
Interestingly, the strategy that the British used to overhaul their athletics system borrows quite a bit from former communist states, rather than from the free-wheeling Americans. This is also a salutary lesson for economic strategy — sometimes when you are small, you have to take matters into your own hands. If there is a business story buried in the performance of UK athletics, could it be more central planning and less free markets?
When looking at sport, we are not just talking about the UK but also other countries that over perform at the Olympics.
For example, although the Brits did well, they came in only 13th place when you weight their medal haul for their population.
The top five countries when weighted for population are the Bahamas, Jamaica, Croatia, Fiji and New Zealand. What is going on in these countries and what does it tell us about business and economics?
When we look closer at what drives sporting success, we see what could be described as a very Cold War, Soviet-style blueprint.
The first key aspect is women’s participation. This reflects the fact that countries with higher levels of gender equality — a sure sign of development more broadly — do better in the Olympics. Next up are specialisation and central planning.
The Brits, the Croatians and the Aussies are such countries that have completely overhauled their athletics using specialisation and central planning. Leaving sport, like economics, to chance just doesn’t work.
The Brits adopted a ‘no compromise’ rule after the 1996 Olympics, whereby they refused to support financially sports where they were not performing. This is a highly controversial move but it worked in terms of diverting cash into sports where they had some advantage or semblance of advantage. Their cycling team is probably the best example of this, where they have become dominant.
Another key to doing well in the Olympics is finding a niche.
It’s crucial to find a sport that few others play. Securing a niche obviously increases your chances of extracting a haul. In a world of huge populations playing a small number of sports, finding an obscure market is extremely clever. In business too, it’s always better to find a product or an area where there are not many competitors.
Finally, one of the key factors in common with all successful nations is central planning. This means an orchestrating body at the top that is picking winners.
This sounds extremely old school, but it has parallels in lots of successful economics. It is how Asian countries, particularly South Korea, developed their economies after the Second World War.
Borrowing from Japan, the Koreans centrally planned everything, diverting the country’s resources into certain industries where they might have an advantage over the more free-market Americans. Today, consider how many high-end products and brands come from Korea? Yes, there are loads.
In a similar way, success at the Olympics demands a central plan and money. Central planning allows nations to allocate funding strategically to different types of sports, build schools, offer subsidies and invest in research.
And finally, there is money. You need money to do well in sport. Twenty years ago, the British languished in 36th in the Atlanta Olympics medal table. So how did the UK turn its situation around?
The most pivotal change took place in 1994, with the creation the National Lottery and the decision to allocate public funds to Olympic sports. The British have increased spending on Olympic sports from £5m a year before the 1996 Atlanta Games — when the UK came 36th in the medals tables, to £350m (€410m) by Rio 2016, where it came 2nd.
It sounds like lots of money, but in truth it is only one quid per taxpayer per year.
Is that worth the glory?
Money pays off. The cycling effort is one of the highest-funded Olympic sports in Britain, getting around £30.2m. By the end of the Games, every member of Britain’s 14-strong cycling team had won at least one medal each.
We’ve had our own success in sports too. So it’s not that Irish teams can’t emulate the British.
For example, did you know that the Irish boxing team has been, per capita, the most successful sports team in the world? Over the 10 years from 2005 to 2015, in the Olympics, the World Championships, the European Championships and the new EU Championships, this team won 57 gold medals, 49 silver and 96 bronze.
Under head coach Billy Walsh, Irish boxing copied the best; in this case, what he saw on a training camp in Russia. He copied how they trained, what they ate, when they rested and he asked the boxers for total commitment.
The regime was so tough that in the first year he lost half the squad; but those who stayed got fitter, stronger, more confident and then started to win medals.
In the past, an Irish boxer would fear being drawn against an existing European medal holder and the fight was lost in his head before he stepped into the ring, but the little (and then bigger) wins meant this inferiority complex changed.
Rio was not our finest hour but still, the boxers have shown what can be done with the right set-up. It can be done.
If we are serious about sport, we can look across the water and elsewhere and do great things of which we would be rightly proud.
It is such a shame that while the Brits come home with 65 medals, Ireland’s Rio Olympics will be mainly remembered for the events away from the sporting competition, rather than on the winners’ podiums.
Very good points in the article. The Brits concentrate on areas where success is probable. The Irish Olympic quango is simply a means for enriching insiders. It probably has a lot to do with how accountability has become absent from the public sphere in Ireland, but largesse is provided, if the entity involved in receiving public funds can mount a campaign called “we are being insufficiently funded”. The OCI has plenty of money. But…..it seems that the insiders still want more. We have a problem with public institutions in this country. It should be noted that it was the Brazilians… Read more »
And the most successful franchise in US sport – American Football is based on a system that ‘evens up’ the teams – giving the weaker teams first draft pick and wage caps. Compared with Premiershi* where 3-5 teams have any chance of winning it, Leicester’s 5000-1 shot having the appropriate odds. btw – there was one person in GB cycling team that didn’t win a medal – Ciara Horne was sub for the womens pursuit. Ciara qualified for Ireland, and attempted to get funding – she broke Irish and Ulster records in time trials while she was part of cycling… Read more »
Concerning the economics of investment, we should scale back sport funding on areas that are merely wasting money. Fast – Ireland is better at competition that involves individual achievement, than at team achievement. The gold medal performances in Irish sport, tend to be involving golfers, boxers, showjumpers, and jockeys. We do individual endeavour. At team sports we are wasting our time. In fact the only team sport that we were successful this time….involved two brothers. So we need to review why we are throing vast sums of money at team sports. Top of the list is Football (soccer). A complete… Read more »
Areas where Ireland can excel. Based on past performance, and the fact that we are better at sports that involve individual scale competition. And I mean this in the context of wider sport success, not just the olympics. Golf. We are successful here. Horse based sports (though it should be added that this is subsidised via tax policy). Boxing. Watersports involving technique. (sailing, rowing, etc). We should be realistic about certain sports, where the competition is always going to be better resourced. In other words there is no point in throwing money away in vain. I propose to gradually veer… Read more »
The biggest misallocatoin of funding, in relation to sports in Ireland – the vast amounts of money that cross the tavern counter during Premiership and UEFA championship matches. It is also very obvious that those involved do not play any sport. In fact, the misallocation of resources does not end there. It merely commences. Because, following on from Ireland’s binge drinking problem, is Ireland’s substance abuse problem, Ireland hospital A&E crisis, the road deaths, and so on. The dominant brewery profit maker in the island, has managed to tie spectator sports into purchasing their (Type 2 diabetes inducing) product (on… Read more »
A lot of the lads who are going to the boozer to watch English football are the ones driving kids around Ireland every Saturday and Sunday morning for schoolboy football games.
Do you think all the kids playing in the schoolboy football leagues in Dublin are being transported around in government-funded minibuses?
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“Burn everything British except their coal” used to be the missive.
Armed with that mind set are you surprised, David (or any your blogger acolytes) that we are still a potato republic.
Closed mind syndrome.
I must congratulate the Brits on their Olympic performance. I also single out the Kiwis for special mention, they did remarkably well as they are a country with similar population and climate to Ireland.
I also think the strength of the GAA might be a factor in our medal haul.
Hi David,
I was wondering if we could manage to get one of the croatian immigrants you mentioned in a previous article to take over from Billy?
http://www.sportsjoe.ie/boxing/revealed-the-financial-package-on-offer-to-billy-walsh-in-america/37447
The UK spent £5.5m per medal and we’re supposed to be impressed? Not only does that not impress, it’s actually a bit sad. Sad in the same way that the USA’s and USSR’s obsession with winning lots of medals at any, and huge, cost, was always a bit pathetic. What does it say? I mean, any country with $400m to spend could win a lot of medals, so all it says is that the UK has become obsessed with presentation over substance. It says nothing about the athletes, about the state of national interest in playing sport, or about talent.… Read more »
The Olympics, to me, are all about personal achievement. The country claims ownership by wrapping a flag around the individual achiever. The country can set up infrastructure to enable training toward excellence. This is similar to the providing of infrastructure within a country to enable economic activity. IT IS FAR REMOVED FROM CENTRAL PLANNING. Then again how many athletes train in a foreign jurisdiction. How many obtain sports scholarships at a university and live and train in one country but represent another at the Olympics. ?? It all comes down to the obsessive desire of the individual to dedicate the… Read more »
This is what the oligarchical attitude brings. The ultimate in CENTRAL PLANNING. It is the derelict disposition to advance the agenda of one world government. anything goes for personal gain.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/08/25/trump-vs-hillary-a-summation-paul-craig-roberts/
http://img.theepochtimes.com/n3/eet-content/uploads/2016/08/23/YTD-performance-580×861.png
YTD Performance leaders
In a very recent conversation with a former athletics trainer of mine, he stated that I had the makings of being a world class sprinter. He should know ; After all, he was involved in producing a number of world class athletes from our club. And, “NO” facilities ! I reminded him that I could also have been equally as good at being a 1,500 meter runner. Also, I could have been a successful international soccer player for Ireland ; Midfield. In my case, I see that I could have been a winner in all 3 ; Olympic winner no… Read more »
But, real “losers” in my book are those who believe the B.S. from the main-stream media [ M.S.M. ].
Aanirfan.blogspot.com has decided that Trump is worse than Hillary Clinton.
Hence, the main reason for the mentioning of Trump in the following link about Turkey & Syria & that wonderful little democracy in the middle-east.
I believe that Hillary Clinton is actually worse than Trump.
Notwithstanding, Aanirfan’s opinion on Trump, this feature is a must-read ;
WW 3 coming folks !
http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2016/07/attempted-turkey-coup-july-2016.html
Economics and Sport are both are predicated on the ‘feel-good factor’ or the absence of it. You will NOT win either the Premier League or a major Corporate or Entrepreneurial prize unless you commit to training, are dedicated to your goals, prepared to sacrifice through ‘deferred gratification’ &, above all,have self-belief & resilience. “I get knocked down, but I get up again” as the classic Chumbawumba track ‘Tubthumping’ exhorts. That’s part of my daily playlist to vibe up before I begin work, training for the future. And every single athlete in any arena knows that without joyful surrender to the… Read more »
Yes David if it’s just down to winning medals then yes target niche sports just like in the Leaving Cert where it’s just down to points and the kids target subjects like Home Economics et al. But you know what, the winners medal is just another item to clutter the drawer of what really is a fairly empty and unfulfilling life. The real winners are the kids who go out, week in week out to pursue a sporting passion and will never have a medal or trophy to show for it. What they will have is a sense of keep… Read more »
It seems that intellectual honesty, and speaking your mind, now come at a price. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-25/cnn-cancels-dr-drews-show-one-week-after-he-voiced-grave-concern-hillarys-health But, it seems that the debate is not allowed to venture into the unsuitability of one particular candidate. But now it seems that discussions about the health of one candidate are simply not allowed. Surely people have a right to know ? This is now getting ridiculous. It seems that the people must be protected from information. When the people cannot be kept from information, the people who provide the information must be kept from the people. The West is now moving into a post-knowledge… Read more »
An underlying argument of our host is that sport is a mirror on how life really is ; . The “Survivor” TV series presents the definitive sporting reflection on how the genders fare when equal ; . There yee go ; . http://www.returnofkings.com/32053/this-accidental-experiment-shows-the-superiority-of-patriarchy . . . So much for ; . . “When we look closer at what drives sporting success, we see what could be described as a very Cold War, Soviet-style blueprint. The first key aspect is women’s participation. This reflects the fact that countries with higher levels of gender equality — a sure sign of development more… Read more »
Olympic medals are just a bonus to the contributions sports make to a better existance. Sports can give young people some meaning in a life that seems wretched and boring. If some of that cash wasted on HSE executives had been diverted into a few velodromes (we’ve had some great cyclists) or swimming pools, we’d be a lot healthier as a nation. And, yes, we are naturally good at golf. So are Koreans. We have great courses, the Koreans very few and they’re much too expensive. But they have lots of private schools and driving ranges, great parental and school… Read more »
The question remains ; Of the successful attractive female Olympians, who is suitable wife material ; Henry Makow has some advice ; Politically Incorrect Advice for Young Men (Updated) What I wish I knew when I was 21. . . http://henrymakow.com/000691.html . . . Excerpt ; ” Avoid women who exhibit any of the four-C’s: . (Women who) compete, control, criticize or complain. . Avoid women who are : overachievers or neurotic. Don’t get hung up on unavailable women. They’re not as special as they think. Choose a wife who complements you and is a good companion. Choose one who… Read more »
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/08/peter-hitchens-gold-for-synchronised-sunburn-and-self-delusion-goes-to.html