Is there a correlation between a countries success at the olympics and their world status?

Question

Be it economic or political influence.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Yup.

You have got to have a lot of disposable income to spend it on something as unproductive as an athlete. It takes years and years of training to produce a semi-literate young adult who can perform a unprofitable task that benefits no-one, and perform it with such skill and grace.

Yah! Go U.S.A.!

Answer 3

For sure there's a correlation between invest in sports and success on Olympic games. However, there are some countries which are successful with less money, like Cuba, because they makes an effort on those areas that could gives them international prestige.

Answer 4

I think it has more to do with Environment (whether you are more inclined to do well in the Summer versus Winter Olympics or perhaps both) and Funding...

I would hardly consider Australia to be a fore-runner in world status but they tend to do well in the Summer Olympics because they have an excellent Olympic program.

The only correlation would be countries with significant status world wide in terms of politics tend to have funding equal to that status.

Answer 5

I think so.

Population helps because you have a big pool of athletes to choose from.

Status helps because if you have a lot of money you can afford good facilities, coaches, etc.

Nations that promote patriotism and are powerful have people who are proud to represent their country.