Tokyo Olympics: What price glory?
Management accountant and Great British Bake Off star Makbul Patel casts an analytical eye over this year's Tokyo Olympics.
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very interesting, not sure I agree with the assertion that the cost per gold medal should be a benchmark, especially when the cost per medal stays consistent, I have always thought that the total medal haul is more interesting than the number of gold medals.
It would be interesting to learn on what basis certain sports are given certain funds, for example the refusal to fund female BMXers
The other thing I wonder, is the overall economic benefit to the nation when more medals are won, more medals means more sponsorship from large international companies which means more taxes for the UK for one thing. More medals in a particular sport means more take up of the sport which in turn means more money for local businesses in that field.
There are obviously a number of non monetary benefits such as the general sense of well being of the nation as a whole.
The Gold Rush documentary (3-parter on BBC iPlayer) is worth a watch as it covers the financial side very well. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000xpm8/gold-rush-our-race-to-oly...
The Paralympics start on 24 Aug and I can't wait to cheer on our athletes again.
Brilliant article. I only feel shame that we now act like a former-communist country in 'buying' medals for so-called prestige. All the athletes' homes look shiny and new so it is a job these days.
BTW there is a gold Post Box in Sherborne for a bloke who won for clay pigeon shooting. Now that smacks of someone who just got good and did not go to live near a 'centre' to be super-trained when he was 13
is this that peter wilson fella by any chance? if memory serves he went to live in Saudi or Dubai to be trained by one of the sheikhs or something along those lines. i only remember him because i got obsessed with london 2012 olympics, had all the stamps and everything!
Great article - loved reading this one. Perhaps we conclude that success in sport may result in more armchair time for the great british public...?
Great work Makbul. I really enjoyed that one too from this side of the screen at AccountingWEB.
At the time of publication I added in the latest figures from the Olympics medal table (now at 18 golds and 58 overall), which brings the Gold ratio down to £12.46m, just a whisker above the Beijing peak.
The ratio comparison is an instructive place to start, but to bring a little pedantry to the comparison, perhaps we should adjust the ratios to allow for inflation, which could suggest we've reached more of a steady-state investment level over the most recent games.
Whether that will hold up post-Covid remains to be seen. I'd also endorse some of your observations about the Olympic legacy and public health too. Given the levels of obesity prevalent in the UK - and how that contributed to a significantly increased mortality rate during the pandemic - might all of those millions have been better applied to stimulating grassroots sporting activity among the wider population?
Having been involved in the athletics community, and knowing a number of x-Olympic athletes, it is tough nowadays to be a contender for an Olympic medal, without being a full time athlete (and therefore needing the funding). Sadly, the days of the true amateur are long gone, and there are also the drugs cheats to compete against. Not many track and field athletes can earn a fortune through the sport, and quite a few put a lot back into athletics (as coaches etc.) once their careers are over. Some of the benefits of funding aren't that easy to see.
What price is fair to encourage the best talent in sport to result in this country being in the top ten worldwide?
21st by population
order by gold medals (best in the world)
2008 4th
2012 3rd
2016 2nd
2020 4th
And getting medals in the winter olympics
Outstanding
UK pulls above its weight
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