Measuring competition in the Olympic Winter Games 1992–2014 using economic indices

Since the early 1990s, competition in the Olympic Winter Games has changed notably in terms of events contested and nations taking part. Despite, these changes, which are overseen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the number of medal-winning nations has remained relatively stable. As a first attempt to illustrate this issue on a discipline by discipline basis, economic techniques are used to examine the outcome of competition between 1992 and 2014. The purpose of this paper is to measure: market size; the number of competing nations; and the balance between competitive nations in six disciplines. Focusing on competitive balance, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index is applied to measure the concentration of domination; while the Przeworski Index is used to quantify instability over time. Important changes are identified in biathlon (2010) and short track (2014). While the change in the former is consistent with the IOC’s substantial increase in biathlon events, the latter can be attributed to athletes changing their nationality. IOC policy-makers can benefit from this research as it provides a method by which to monitor competition in a discipline. This method provides the potential for evaluating the likely effects of governing the Olympic Games by increasing the number of events

Starting and specialisation ages of elite athletes across olympic sports: An international cross-sectional study

Talent development models are the frameworks that guide sports stakeholders in developing potential athletes, within which early specialisation and diversification remain contradictory strategies. This paper presents new insights into the starting and specialisation ages of world-class athletes in various Olympic sports. A total of 2,838 athletes from 13 nations and 44 Olympic sports were included in this study. The results show that world-class athletes started with their current sport at the age of 10.6 (±5.3) and decided to focus on this sport at the age of 15.6 (±5.0), with obvious variations in these ages across different sports. The study showed a moderate relationship between athletes’ starting and specialisation ages (r = 0.639), which demonstrates the variable duration of the multiple sport sampling period. This period, during which athletes pursue a variety of sports, lasts 4.9 years on average. There is a high degree of variation among different athletes in starting and specialisation ages, even within the same sport. All sports in the study can be classified into five categories based on a combination of their starting ages (early/intermediate/late) and specialisation ages (early/intermediate/late). The Developmental Model of Sports Participation provides the age guidelines for the categories. The five categories contain (I) early specialisation sports, (II) intermediate starting and specialisation sports, (III) late specialisation sports, (IV) late starting sports, and (V) late starting and late specialisation sports. The study concludes by proposing that there is a need for sport-specific talent development models with increased attention to each sport’s starting age, sampling period, and specialisation age

Exercising in times of lockdown : an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on levels and patterns of exercise among adults in Belgium

Countries all over the world implemented lockdowns to counteract COVID-19. These lockdowns heavily limited people’s exercise possibilities. At the same time, experts advocated to remain physically active to prevent future health problems. Based on an online survey, this study examines adults’ exercise levels and patterns during the COVID-19 lockdown in Belgium. Ordinal logistic regression analyses of 13,515 valid and population-weighted responses indicate a general increase in exercise frequencies, as well as in sedentary behavior. Except for people aged 55+, previously low active adults self-reported to exercise more during the lockdown. Among the people who were already high active before COVID-19, those above 55 years old, those with low education, those used to exercise with friends or in a sport club, and those who were not using online tools to exercise, self-reported to exercise less during the lockdown. Having less time, sitting more, and missing the familiar way and competitive element of exercising were the main reasons for a self-reported exercise reduction. Given the health risks associated with physical inactivity, results imply that governments should consider how those who were not reached can be encouraged to exercise during a lockdown. After all, additional COVID-19 lockdowns might be implemented in the future

Is prioritisation of funding in elite sport effective? An analysis of the investment strategies in 16 countries

Abstract Research question: This paper explores the extent to which nations prioritise elite sport funding; whether such nations are more successful than those whose funding is more diversified; and, if the sports that receive the most funding are also the most successful. Research methods: Data on public expenditure for elite sport programmes (2011/2012) were collected on a sport-specific basis in 16 nations (n=445 funded sports). The Herfindahl index and concentration ratios of the four/eight most funded sports (CR4/CR8) are used as proxies for prioritization. Success was measured using top 3 and top 8 places during the Olympic Games and World Championships. Descriptive analysis and linear regression are applied to identify the relationship between the distribution of funding and success. Results and findings: Generally, all sample nations are prioritisers. Nations with smaller total elite sport budgets tended to prioritise more. There is a slight negative association between the distribution of funding within a country and subsequent success, indicating that the sample countries that prioritise more tended to be less successful. Sample nations that diversify their funding more, are found to be successful in a wider range of sports. In addition, the data illustrated only low allocative efficiency for some nations. Implications: The study produced ambiguous conclusions that prioritisation as a deliberate strategic choice is an efficient way to invest funding. The findings have important implications for high performance managers and suggests that a more diverse resource allocation policy may help to avoid unintended negative consequences. Keywords: Targeted funding; elite sport policy; allocative efficiency; prioritisation; SPLIS

National Paralympic sport policies influencing a country’s Paralympic success

The Paralympics Games are increasing in competitiveness as more countries seek top medal outcomes. In response, governments are focusing on the development and implementation of effective national sport policies/systems to optimise Paralympic success. However, little is known about national sport policy influencing a country’s Paralympic success. Indeed, the literature on national elite sport policy has focused on Olympic sport and emerging Paralympic sport studies are limited to a country/sport. The aim of this research was to identify key national Paralympic sport policy interventions influencing a country’s Paralympic medal outcomes. This exploratory qualitative study was informed by a realist perspective, and by the social relational and human rights models of disability. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with national Paralympic sport managers from the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Canada, and the data was analysed using qualitative descriptive analysis. Findings confirm that existing national Olympic sport policies are also important for Paralympic success, however, within these policies, parasport-specific processes were identified, and two policy interventions unique to Paralympic sports were found: integration of disability-specific and Paralympic sport knowledge in the sporting system, and a national framework for Paralympic athlete classification. This study advances knowledge on national Paralympic sport policies and suggests that researchers, evaluators, and practitioners need to account for Paralympic-specific policies and processes. Tailoring policies to the specificities of the Paralympic domain may provide competitive advantage in the Paralympic Games. This study argues for further research to understand how the identified policy interventions may be influenced by the country’s context

The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport

The achievement of international and especially Olympic sporting success is increasingly important to a growing number of countries. It is however not clear how success is defined and can be measured. The number of medals won in Olympics Games and other international sport competitions offers the most self-evident and transparent measure of success in high performance sport. In this article different methods to measure success of nations are compared. Market share was identified as the best measure of absolute success which enables meaningful time series analysis to be conducted. A Linear regression analysis is used to introduce relative success as a measurement of success when controlling for macro determinants such as population and wealth. This method allows comparing nations on more equal grounds, which is necessary if one wants to measure effectiveness of elite sport policies. Similar analysis is done for Olympic Summer and Winter Sports. It is concluded that conflicting results can be given on nations’ success. Defining success therefore depends on the purpose wherefore it is used and on the priorities of individual nations.Les performances sportives au niveau international, et particulièrement au niveau olympique, prennent de plus en plus d’importance pour un nombre croissant de nations. Mais il n’est pas évident de définir ni de mesurer le succès. Le nombre de médailles gagnées lors de Jeux olympiques ou autres compétitions internationales représente la mesure la plus objectivable et la plus transparente du succès dans le sport de haut niveau. Dans cet article, nous comparons différentes méthodes permettant de mesurer ce genre de performances. La part de marché a été identifiée comme la meilleure mesure de succès absolu permettant de procéder à une analyse de séries temporelles significative. Une analyse en régression linéaire est utilisée pour présenter le succès relatif comme mesure du succès lorsqu’on maîtrise des facteurs macro-déterminants tels que la population et la richesse. Cette méthode permet de comparer les différents pays sur des bases plus égales, ce qui est indispensable si l’on veut mesurer l’efficacité des politiques en matière de sport d’élite. Nous procédons ensuite à une analyse similaire pour les Jeux olympiques d’été et d’hiver, avant de conclure que nous parvenons à des résultats contradictoires quant aux performances des différents pays. En effet, le succès dépend du but dans lequel on l’utilise ainsi que des priorités de chaque nation

Valuing elite sport success using the contingent valuation method: A transnational study

This study presents an application of the contingent valuation method for valuing medal winning success on a transnational basis to test whether more medals won equates to more utility. To achieve this aim, a research project was set up in five countries: Belgium, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Respondents were asked to state their willingness to pay to avoid a large-scale reduction in government funding for elite sport, resulting in a 50% reduction in medals won at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Results show that willingness to pay for avoiding reduced medal winning performance differs significantly between countries with the more successful countries reporting higher willingness to pay values than the relatively less successful countries. This finding indicates that more medals won appears to be linked with more utility. The validity tests on the regression models were generally consistent with the theoretical expectations. Implications are discussed in terms of how governments can promote elite sport development while being conscious of the public's acceptability of such investment