FOX Sports China Angry After Ye Questioning
NBC Olympics Medals
After reading this article, I started wondering what are the factors that enable countries and athletes to attain medals. Here are my thoughts on it.
Genetics - Some ethnicities may thrive in certain sports. This may give Team USA a benefit since our population is about as diverse as one will find anywhere.
Population size - Because if you are looking for 1 in a million, you will have ~1350 of them in China and only 315 of them in the USA. A benefit for Team China.
Athlete selection - Some of the USA civilians likely have more resources available to pursue the dream of Olympic Gold, on the whole we are wealthier. However, many of our potential best athletes likely never make it to the Olympic ranks because their parents could or chose not to afford that life of travelling sports, coaches and dedication. Whereas my belief is that China watches for students with athletic potential and funnels them into the program. (could be incorrect) A benefit for China since they cast a wider net.
Coaching & Facilities: I assume once one makes the cut and is placed in the ranks of potential medal winners, both countries ensure that the athletes are well taken care of and pushed. No benefit to either.
Based on this totally uneducated analysis. It seems that China can and will earn more medals than the USA. So I find it funny that people may find that frustrating. Ego is an interesting thing.
Thoughts?
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2 comments:
Maybe one other factor is cultural. It is my impression that the Chinese attribute success in school to hard work whereas American parents are more likely to consider IQ as more important. Maybe it is the same for athletics. Chinese parents may push their children harder to excell, make them practice more etc. A year or two ago quite a bit of attention was given to the Tiger Mom
Definitely a factor. I wonder how they all get to be the "smartest kid's in the class"? And who is going to play the viola?
I imagine her duct taping her child to the piano bench and beating her if the child says no. Definitely different strokes for different folks. At least the Mom was engaged and invested.
The following didn't surprise me at all. Freakonomics China Suicide Rate
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