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 mo...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Société Royale Belge de Géographie and the Belgian National Committee of Geography
2008-06-01
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| Series: | Belgeo |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/10303 |
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| _version_ | 1850197337387827200 |
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| author | Veerle De Bosscher Bruno Heyndels Paul De Knop Maarten van Bottenburg Simon Shibli |
| author_facet | Veerle De Bosscher Bruno Heyndels Paul De Knop Maarten van Bottenburg Simon Shibli |
| author_sort | Veerle De Bosscher |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8bd17e2252fe49769ed6e272e68d84bc |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1377-2368 2294-9135 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2008-06-01 |
| publisher | Société Royale Belge de Géographie and the Belgian National Committee of Geography |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Belgeo |
| spelling | doaj-art-8bd17e2252fe49769ed6e272e68d84bc2025-08-20T02:13:11ZengSociété Royale Belge de Géographie and the Belgian National Committee of GeographyBelgeo1377-23682294-91352008-06-01221723410.4000/belgeo.10303The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sportVeerle De BosscherBruno HeyndelsPaul De KnopMaarten van BottenburgSimon ShibliThe 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.https://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/10303elite sportinternational successmeasuring successOlympic success |
| spellingShingle | Veerle De Bosscher Bruno Heyndels Paul De Knop Maarten van Bottenburg Simon Shibli The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport Belgeo elite sport international success measuring success Olympic success |
| title | The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport |
| title_full | The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport |
| title_fullStr | The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport |
| title_full_unstemmed | The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport |
| title_short | The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport |
| title_sort | paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sport |
| topic | elite sport international success measuring success Olympic success |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/10303 |
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