The Olympic dream?

[dimreepr]

I am very proud to be British and salute, with a tear in my eye, the achievements of the Great British Olympics team; well done. Let’s, as a national, revel in the success and reflected glory of these games. However, let’s not get used to it; this will NEVER happen again, why? Gone are the days of the plucky “brit” with a can do attitude and stiff upper lip, wins the day. No, today’s sport at Olympic level (the sports that count, of course) is a matter of finance. We all know, that by the time the next Olympics come around, we’ll, as a nation, be funding sports at probably the level of, let’s say, Greece and the RETURN of “gold medals” will be reflected.

 

 

[Klaynos]

I am very proud to be British and salute, with a tear in my eye, the achievements of the Great British Olympics team; well done. Let’s, as a national, revel in the success and reflected glory of these games. However, let’s not get used to it; this will NEVER happen again, why? Gone are the days of the plucky “brit” with a can do attitude and stiff upper lip, wins the day. No, today’s sport at Olympic level (the sports that count, of course) is a matter of finance. We all know, that by the time the next Olympics come around, we’ll, as a nation, be funding sports at probably the level of, let’s say, Greece and the RETURN of “gold medals” will be reflected.

 

According to a BBC article I scanned earlier today the tax part of the funding for the athletes over the last 4 years works out to be about 80p/tax payer/year.

[dimreepr]

According to a BBC article I scanned earlier today the tax part of the funding for the athletes over the last 4 years works out to be about 80p/tax payer/year.

 

 

An article I’d love to read, please provide a title or link, I can’t seem to find. On the face of it seems very cheap. It is, however, no measure of the relative spend of other nations.

 

 

[Klaynos]

An article I’d love to read, please provide a title or link, I can’t seem to find. On the face of it seems very cheap. It is, however, no measure of the relative spend of other nations.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19144983

 

I'd also love to know how much other countries spend. I suspect for somewhere like the USA it would be very difficult to to come up with a single figure as I doubt it's mostly federal.

[Iota]

I am very proud to be British and salute, with a tear in my eye, the achievements of the Great British Olympics team; well done. Let's, as a national, revel in the success and reflected glory of these games.

 

Certainly been a good year for GBR team and it's made it enjoyable to watch... I was worried towards the beginning of the Olympics when we weren't getting many golds at all.

 

However, let's not get used to it; this will NEVER happen again, why? Gone are the days of the plucky "brit" with a can do attitude and stiff upper lip, wins the day. No, today's sport at Olympic level (the sports that count, of course) is a matter of finance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19135794 Funding for sports may be increased yet.

We all know, that by the time the next Olympics come around, we'll, as a nation, be funding sports at probably the level of, let's say, Greece and the RETURN of "gold medals" will be reflected.

 

 

I think that we still have a shot at doing well in four years to come; though it will be difficult to trump the 2012 Olympic results.

 

We definitely won't ever see these results again: http://www.london201...1908/index.html

[rigney]

I am very proud to be British and salute, with a tear in my eye, the achievements of the Great British Olympics team; well done. Let’s, as a national, revel in the success and reflected glory of these games. However, let’s not get used to it; this will NEVER happen again, why? Gone are the days of the plucky “brit” with a can do attitude and stiff upper lip, wins the day. No, today’s sport at Olympic level (the sports that count, of course) is a matter of finance. We all know, that by the time the next Olympics come around, we’ll, as a nation, be funding sports at probably the level of, let’s say, Greece and the RETURN of “gold medals” will be reflected.

I'm darned proud of the Brits too and I'm an American. And to beg your pardon, but one hell of a bunch of you Brits still have that stiff upper lip and Pip Pip attitude. My hope is that our America government will keep their damned greedy hands out of the games and that they will never pay into the Olympic Program. And no! America didn't let Gabby down, but the folks around her with money that could have helped but didn't. I'm sure that endorsements will make Gabby and her Mom whole again financially.

Something I just now picked up on the tube.

 

http://globalgrind.com/music/america-let-gabby-douglas-down-olympics-hair-bankrupt-photos#ixzz22tJIOrZN

Edited August 7, 2012 by rigney

[ecoli]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19144983

 

I'd also love to know how much other countries spend. I suspect for somewhere like the USA it would be very difficult to to come up with a single figure as I doubt it's mostly federal.

And don't forget commercial endorsements for the big named athletes and events.

[CaptainPanic]

Most of the sporters finance themselves - by just being a member of a sports club, and the top-athletes find sponsors (commercial).

 

The common playgrounds and sports centers might be partially government funded, but everyone benefits from that. I do my sports there too. The really top-quality sports centers for the best of the world are again often also sponsored again. For example, the Dutch olympic (double) champion swimming is sponsored. She swims for a team that carries the name of a large company. A large company doesn't mind to pay as long as their name appears often enough in association with a winner.

 

Now, those stadiums, the necessary infrastructure, and the security of the actual Olympic games... that's a different matter. That's costly. But in London, I suspect that most of it will eventually be used. It's such a huge city!

[Klaynos]

As well as the facilities costs there are also the living costs of those training, to be the best is pretty much a full time job. You've also got trainers, and other supporters which costs money. Sponsorship is a big part in most sports, but I cannot see much advantage of sponsoring a javlin athlete say.

[dimreepr]

This link shows the official funding figures per sport for the London 2012 games.

 

http://www.uksport.gov.uk/sport/summer/

 

Also included is the funding for the Paralympics

[CaptainPanic]

I cannot see much advantage of sponsoring a javlin athlete say.

I guess that's why sponsorship is smaller for javelin throwers. You need to be of Olympic quality to even get some. The number of fully professional javelin throwers (globally) is maybe... 5? I don't know. Compare that to the thousands and thousands of professional soccer players. Sponsorship is linked to visibility to an audience.

 

Some of the athletes competing at the Olympics are actually not even professional - they have a job on the side because they cannot get enough sponsor money.