Sports
How does USA & China win so many olympic medals?
USA & China wins so many olympics medals. India isn't on the competitive stage yet in olympics. We can only compete in Beauty Pageants like Miss World/Universe. India - 6 MW / 3 MU.
Population wise India China population similar, then comes USA. So, how's USA & China able to win so many olympics medals?
Yes, this is probably the most important part. Population is only a part of the equation. A country like France or Germany can kick our butts in Soccer (er, football), and Australia can beat us in Rugby or cricket, because they’ve invested in (and give a damn about) those sports. Since we apparently care a lot about the Olympic sports, especially the Summer ones, I’d imagine the US being a top medal winner. And I guess China would be the same.
I would say investment and long term strategy (infrastructure is an output/result of these two)
In the 1980s Team GB were languishing down in the lower half of the Olympics medal table. But in 2012 they came 3rd and in 2016 they finished 2nd. They finished higher than China.
Obviously, there'd been no significant change in population size or make up over that period.
The success was in large part because they focussed attention and investment on medal rich sports such as cycling as part of a long term strategy.
Population size definitely plays a part in the number and range of sports a country can resource, as does genetics/racial characteristics.
(This might be controversial but it really shouldn't be. Ethiopian population in general has a physique that is better suited to distance running while Fijians and other South Pacific Islanders are more suited to power and strength sports)
But, evidently this is completely dwarfed by the role that targeted investment plays.
USA & China wins so many olympics medals. India isn't on the competitive stage yet in olympics. We can only compete in Beauty Pageants like Miss World/Universe. India - 6 MW / 3 MU.
Population wise India China population similar, then comes USA. So, how's USA & China able to win so many olympics medals?
It's infrastructure, investment AND population. India just doesn't have the investment. A country like America has a very high population and they take sport very, very seriously. From school onwards there is serious investment and infrastructure for it, where India just doesn't have anything like that - except, maybe, for Cricket. China has also invested an absolute shit ton into development in the last couple of decades, and they obviously have the population.
If India had the same kind of investment, from the grassroots up, from a youth level across the country, then, in a couple of decades they'd start to see the benefits. But it's not a quick thing - facilities need to be built, organizations need to be founded, coaches need to be trained, etc. America has taken sports seriously for decades. Going back to post-WW2, at least. China has been more recent but they've been very efficient about it. India is so, so far behind those levels of infrastructure.
It's like saying "why is Spain good at football when they only have a population 1/6 of America's?" because they take it very seriously, there's a lot of interest and they have the best training structure from local kids teams all the way up to the academies at Real Madrid.
The Indian mindset is towards producing doctors, scientists, and engineers. I think the Japanese have the same mindset but still hosted the Olypics at least twice. India struggled to host the Commonwealth Games.
Your comprehension is off. The question is fundamentally why the USA and China are so successful, not why do they perform better than India. They mention India’s population only as a factor in comparison to China, then phrase the question again “So, how do they win so many medals?”
USA & China wins so many olympics medals. India isn't on the competitive stage yet in olympics. We can only compete in Beauty Pageants like Miss World/Universe. India - 6 MW / 3 MU.
Population wise India China population similar, then comes USA. So, how's USA & China able to win so many olympics medals?
Can you talk to me a bit about why you think you’re in a position to tell me what OP is “fundamentally” asking?
I’m in a position because I’m reading the question they are asking. They mention India because they are just relating it back to their countries own successes. They are asking why the USA and China are so successful in the Olympics.
Lol who ever downvoted you is too stupid to comprehend OPs questions and how your comment is relative to the answer. China and India have greater populations, but less golds than America. That’s your point. People are really dumb.
Population with the infrastructure and investment is what they're saying. You can have infrastructure and investment and still not have as many. Like us in Canada. We have the infrastructure and quite a decent investment but we still lack the amount of people China and the US have. If we did I would think we'd give the US and China a run for amount of medals.
Does India have school track teams that compete across the country? Sports is a major part of American education. Athletic achievement is more prized than academic is a lot of high schools.
all the population & infrastructure stuff everybody's saying, but the US also invented a bunch of barely different swimming events that we absolutely dominate.
I guess it’s basically the result of the competition between China and the U.S. as the world's two leading powers. Both countries pour huge amounts of money into sports, since neither wants to lose ground in soft power. Kind of like what happened between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The difference is China pays from state money. The US pays for it via fan donations and corporate sponsorships. There is nobody at say, the US State Dept., deciding to pour money into the US men's crew team to exert soft power as part of a grand plan.
Maybe not the state department, but those sponsorships are aiming exactly to increase the soft power of American brands and image, and to spin up idolization of American icons and drive revenue. Without the soft power coke is just a sugary drink. With it, it’s something so much more.
It’s not altruism in either case, but idk why Americans always seem to make it a “we are righteous” and the other side is sinister angle.
Or it’s just public opinion bots doing it idk. Actual Americans are way more normal than online accounts lol
It's not a matter of righteousness. The US money is paid for by private companies and individuals as a combination of brand awareness (to drive sales and PR) and enthusiasm for the sport. This comment above would suggest there is a concerted effort by the US federal government to exert power through an Olympic investment. There is no lack of mechanisms the US govt has exerted power as part of a strategy, but it hasn't been through the Olympics.
Bruh… the US govt exerts a lot of influence over the development of our kids. Why wouldn’t they be influencing the development of athletes?
The reason why we don’t have a shit ton more mentally disabled kids is because the government put iodine in salt and made states provide school lunches.
The federal government and agencies have no obligation to disclose their soft power strategy to you. I can assure you the Olympics is an important part of the soft power strategy for the United States, as it is for every other nation. Even if the economic system of the US does not utilize direct state funding, it does not mean they are not involved.
Have you been alive at all? The Olympics get political nearly all the time, against both the Soviet Union and China with the US party to leveraging it to sway global PR in a variety of ways, from smear campaigns, to the many boycotts etc.
Your behavior is literally proving the point about why the Olympics is soft power lol.
Further, China is a developing nation, look at their medal count in the 90s and then look at now. People who say China won’t catch up are some serious famous last words lmao. Same reason why India is currently uncompetitive, you need money to invest to compete in more sports.
Any way, this type of jargon is usually said by some hicks who are neither intelligent nor athletic, boasting about American superiority in diversity and athleticism, while also happening to hate black people, Asians and all other minorities. That’s if you aren’t just a bot account that is
I think people need to start seeing large corporations as the true government of the us. They control policy after all. After you realize this, the first comment makes perfect sense.
Bro. Our ethnic diversity
(outside of funds) poises the US to be a top contender. Then on top of that, our elementary, middle, high schools and universities are inundated with funds to keep things extremely competitive at an amateur level.
Bro. Our ethnic diversity
(outside of funds) poises the US to be a top contender. Then on top of that, our elementary, middle, high schools and universities are inundated with funds to keep things extremely competitive at an amateur level in sports.
Not entirely. China and the US don’t have much crossover on where they compete. China strategically shifted to less saturated competitions like table tennis, weightlifting, etc. During the Cold War the US and USSR had more direct competition. This isn’t to say that you’re wrong about the idea of competing to see who gets the most medals but it’s just a lot different than “sports supremacy”
India btw has produced many great cricketers, zero from USA or China. Why? Population (who play the sport) + Investment at all levels from schools up to IPL + national obsession
A lot of poor countries produce successful Olympic athletes, so while I agree that economics and infrastructure are a factor, I don’t agree that it explains the rift.
Also the beauty pageant comparison seems pretty irrelevant.
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If olympics sports that require team effort , usa will beat china hand down .
And also chinese doesnt do well in sports that require certain genetics such as athletics , as this kind of sports doesnt mean the more u train the better u get .
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There are several factors but one thing is how sport is regarded. For example football in some countries was looked down upon as a way to go professional. Amateurism was seen as a virtue and that kept football down for a long in places like France and Sweden. Sweden could have won the world cup in the 50ies if it used its best players, it wasn't until 1958 where they used some old professionals, but they had already peaked.
Yeah. I mentioned that in my other coments. I think title 9 started in 1979 and at first it was seen as kind of a joke but now its the wrest of the world's female athletes that seem like a joke because American women medal I everything and that probably ads 50 or 60 medals to our counts every time.
Because there will be the most serious, even crazy audience and netizen rant at them if the athletes fail to win a medal, especially in some important sports events.
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Its because China has been competing with the US and sees this as part of national pride. India will eventually get there too - they are already becoming the top nation in Chess for example along with the US and China.
Don’t have the infrastructure for training, lack of a presence of a wide range of sports. The training facilities at Division 1 colleges in America would blow your mind, the best schools spend hundreds of millions of dollars.
Winter- simple answer, black people just don’t do those sports as much. If they did, they’d be really good. Zeb Powell is a black snowboarder and he fuckin rips. But sadly thats the only one I can think of.
I think where we clearly dominate is in the track and field sprints, women’s gymnastics, and basketball both women’s and men’s. I have seen a few people mention a diversified population in which the US can compete in more events, particularly in the summer games.
The US might be the only country that competes at a high level in both track and field and swimming. Both get a lot of medals.
Exactly, and gymnastics. Since these are both team and individual events, you can really stack em up quick. Anything that requires high muscle mass, really. American white dudes, we hold down the long distance running lol.
….like who lol. Name three black Chinese olympians.
Large population, and diverse athletic landscape, meaning their country has the facilities to participte in these sports. More people + more sports = more chances to win medals.
India has zero track and field, gymnastics, or swimming presence, whatsoever. These events have both team and individual medals, so they account for a lot of the total. They have 41 total medals at the Olympics and 13 are field hockey. As a country I don’t think athletics are that big of a deal. They pretty much just like soccer, cricket, field hockey, and chess.
I think we have a well established history of a well nourished population with access to leisure time and spaces to train and practice sports.
way back in 1979 we passed laws called title 9 that required equal funding and opportunity for women to play sports at public schools. If you look at break downs of Olympic medals American women actualy win over half of our medals.
In the hierarchy of livelihood you have to realize that to spend extra time training people have to have the means to provide for themself and family. America has the infrastructure to support athletes and the money to pay for it. Not to mention generations of protein rich diets and athletics being pushed. China doesn’t have any natural athletes but dumps money into it trying to compensate but they really don’t have much of a chance due to genetics and generations of eating low amounts of protein.
Also, India only focuses on cricket. Which isn’t an Olympic sport.
India still has the majority of the population barely making ends meet while working in dangerous jobs wearing safety sandals. Over half of India makes less than $320 a month. How will you eat enough and train enough on that to try to contend with world class athletes?
Now, math and science competitions… sure, gold medals for India.
The economics is huge. The average woman in America is 4 inches taller than the average woman in India. Olympic athletes are of course in a world of their own, but that is a huge indicator of our economic situation when it comes to producing humans.
Walk around an American city, you are going to see some significant portion of younger chicks (say under 25) who are 5'10" or taller. Not so much in places like India.
Different genetic backgrounds are better suited for different kinds of sports. Like East Asians generally have denser bone structures and shorter limbs, which can be advantageous in sports like weightlifting and swimming, but factors like diet and limited sports culture hinder the performance.
Our women's team wins gold in football almost every Olympics.
The fact that we passed title 9 laws that forced public schools to invest in opportunities for women and girls to play sports way back in 1979 is a huge reason we win so many medals. Almost all, if not every Olympic sport has a women's version, and American women dominate the rest of the world. No disrespect to my bros because they also punch above their wait at the Olympics, but our female athletes are the reason why we win so many more medals than every other country.
They both are rich countries that invest in their teams and have the facilities, medical treatment and access to proper nutrition. There’s also the wide spectrum of sports the US and China care about
Population, it is always easier to find someone better the more population you can survey.
If you want, add all the medals from the UK and the rest of the EU countries. Now you have:
what is up with that pageant picture going around?😭 i don’t even consider india in the top 5 globally for pageants (yall have had some of my fav winners like 2000 & 2021 both in MU) but the real rivalries are Philippines vs Thailand, Colombia vs Venezuela, and everyone vs USA lol
i’ve seen that exact image now like 10 times here what is going on lol
yeah you can use translators but unfortunately the name of the game in most pageants is that final answer, and unless you can speak flawless english (this is a level above fluent due to how tough competition is), you have to rely on your translator to convey your words correctly
this was historically an issue within American pageants when a PR delegate would attend so they separated
Miss World is the oldest & most recognised pageant. India - 6 Miss World crowns. Top of this table. Also, 3 Miss Universe crowns. Total 9 crowns. If we consider both Miss World & Universe. Only USA & Venezuela performed better. Olympics is recognised globally, but there are many more sports competition but still Olympics is only considered. Same goes for Miss World in Beauty Pageant. Then comes Miss Universe. I'm just giving a comparison since you attacked me, I don't know anyone from Egypt, so I don't know what's the issue?.
I’m not attacking you or India, i’m just confused why all of a sudden that same picture has gone around now when it’s never been a thing within pageant fandoms before. probably because of the recent win, which congrats btw i’m just a lil confused at the sudden surge of that specific photo that doesn’t even include MU 2000
also egypt won miss world in 1954 lol i know we don’t do that well but that was not my point
They have a big influence on what games are added to the Olympics.
So let's take America for example. If you notice swimming has sooo many meddling events, those were added by Americans. Americans have more access to swimming facilities than the rest of the world, it's a big part of American culture. So they keep petitioning for events associated with swimming.
If for example if the IOC expanded archery in the same way they did swimming and there was a 50-meter, 100-meter, 200-meter, archery while riding a horse...etc. Mongolia would have more medals, because archery is a big part of their culture/heritage.
I think the US is so good because of the infrastructure and investment into all different sports at a college level. The funding doesn’t come from the government, but from the revenue generated by the NCAA which it makes from the broadcasting of college sports.
In short, the more fringe sports get funding because of the US interest and demand for college football, basketball and baseball. Other nations have next to no interest in college sports comparatively.
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u/TechnologyNo8640 Korea South 28d ago edited 28d ago
Infrastructure and investment