How Britain became an Olympic power

In 2008 in Beijing, Britain came fourth, ahead of countries of roughly similar size such as Italy , France and Spain . In 2012 in London, it came third. In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, only America did better. Britain has spent £345m on the Tokyo games. Aswent to press it was vying with Australia for fourth place in the medal rankings, behind America, China and Russia.

The transformation began after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, in which Britain won just a single gold. The government decided to use cash from the recently launched National Lottery to fund top-level sport, with the express goal of winning more medals. From 1997 the effort gained impetus under New Labour, which was enamoured of performance targets, says Borja Garcia, who studies sports policy at Loughborough University. More came in 2005, with the decision to award London the 2012 games.

Such ruthlessness has been effective. But Stefan Szymanski, a sports-policy expert at the University of Michigan, says that targeting money on sports that are doing well risks entrenching the status quo by starving less successful ones of the cash that might help them to improve. Others worry that chasing after medals has had grimmer consequences. Dozens of gymnasts are suing the sport’s authorities, complaining of negligence and abuse.

And even the best-laid plans of funding bodies and bureaucrats can go awry. Bethany Shriever, who won gold in Tokyo inracing, failed to impress officials before the Games and had to crowdfund to pay for her training. Meanwhile Britain’s rowers, a reliable source of medals in past games, are mired in recriminations after a string of fourth places.

An 'also-ran' that just sounds harsh. Never heard that term until now. So outside of the same 5 countries overall, there are about 20 to 30 other 'also-ran' nations. The Olympics will never fell to amaze me.

State sponsored medal robots? Washington Post: Olympic Medals No Nonger Show off Nation's Cultural Power.

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Washington Post: Olympic Medals No Nonger Show off Nation's Cultural Power.

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