Is the Olympics fair ? ?

Question

We compete Country against Country in the quest to win gold medals that tally up giving the leading country pride, but is this a fair system ? Think of it like fishing if I drop my line into a river with fewer fish it less likely I`ll catch as many fish as say if I drop my line into a river with countless millions ? I over heard somebody (an American) recently say America will win these Olympics they always win !! But isn't the above point I made a valid reason as to why they and certain other countries do so well ? its all about the draw pool that's where the Gold comes from and has little to do with culture or anything else... anyway what are your thoughts is the Olympic concepts fair as it does seem to have some pretty obvious faults about its design ?

Before you tell me its really not about medals its about the spirit of the games I already know that ! but the media don't sell newspapers when a team comes last its a proven fact.and the larger teams with the biggest pond also sell more news papers its a win win situation except for the little countries who seem to get used.

Answer 1

"The media is just doing this to sell newspapers"

You just answered your own question. The IOC does not officially keep track of this, it's only the media.

Answer 2

It's all about having fun.

Answer 3

"Point well taken" is the phrase most appropriate here.  I'm not sure about your "draw pool" concept, and whether it has anything or "little to do with culture or anything else", but your basic concept is correct.  Fairness in "who wins the most medals" has never been around.  Every team / nation wants to win the most gold, just as in every sport, every team wants to win the most games or contests.  A friend of mine once pointed out that in the NASCAR races, it's pretty predictable who's going to win, or within what small circle of competitors will the victor arise.  The moving of Dale Ernhardt, Jr. from DEI to Hendricks Motors, was done for one purpose (in the long run) and that was to give Dale Jr. more chances for victory that he wasn't getting at DEI.  He might have had other smaller agendas or reasons for the move, but the biggest picture was he wanted to win more. Everyone saw he wouldn't get it done at DEI.  Professional athletes allow and seek trades to other franchises for the same reason, and in my preferred sport of bicycle racing, the racers try to get contracts with more successful teams so they can win more.   The fairness comes in how they compete, or the rules established wherein every team, every racer, has an equal chance.  But we all know that franchises with big money have more victories than franchises with less money.  The New York Yankees is a perfect example of a franchise that spends as much money as possible to buy their winning seasons.  Anyone can look at their history of "trades" and World Series Wins and see the correlation between money spent and victories won.  The same is true in the Olympics.  The nations with the most money have the greater chances of winning more victories.  That's why the United States, some time ago, decided not to stick with the "Olympic ideal" of having amateur athletes when Russia and Cuba and others were paying their athletes very well, and were winning more.  So, the U.S. stopped the "Olympic ideal" and began recruiting professional athletes, and look at the sudden increase in gold medals.  So, basically, I think the original idea might have had some "fairness" involved in it, way back when the Greeks, et. al., were putting this Olympic thing together, but, that ideal has been lost long ago.  It still exists.  It's just not in practice any more.  God Bless you.

Answer 4

It is fair when athlete competes against athlete.  Not Athlete vs judges.

Answer 5

actualy alot of the athleats live and train in america and then go conpete for there home country.   Kirsty Coventry was born in zimbabwe but lives and trains in america.  so you cant realy say large countrys have the advantage because alot of the athleats compeat for there home country

Answer 6

the host country will get preferential treatment. Look at greece in 04 and australia in 00. they won more medals than they usually do when they hosted

Answer 7

it has to do with will power and technology, it doesnt matter what country your from, its times that matter. bigger countries have more of a chance because there are more people challenging for the same spot.

and advancement in technology also.

if you have ten people competing for one spot its gonna be alot harder and push you much further than if your one of two people wanting to represent your country