What do the Olympic awards mean?
WORLD 28 July 2023 - 11:31
Sadyar Aliyev Caliber.Az |
In exactly one year's time, the Olympic Summer Games will start in Paris. The whole world will be watching the successes of their countries' athletes every day. The competitors will have their own motivation which differs depending on countries.
For example, for the former USSR countries, medallists of the Olympic Games are entitled to solid cash prizes and in addition cars. It is not uncommon for Olympians from the former Soviet Union to enjoy huge government rewards such as apartments. Other countries also often give cash prizes and their size naturally depends on the economic well-being of the country itself. However, there are some exceptions. For example, the OCs of Sweden, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Norway do not provide direct monetary incentives to their athletes for winning an Olympic medal and render only moral support. The most important moral reward for the winner, of course, is the Olympic medal and the ceremony itself, during which the flags of the countries are raised and the anthem of the country whose representative won the Olympic gold medal is played.
During the original Olympic games in ancient Greece, champions were not awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals as they are today. The winners were instead given jewelry or money. As for the tradition of awarding medals, it was introduced shortly before the first games in 1894 during the Olympic Congress.
Medal counting has been done for a long time, but with the advent of the internet it is mostly done on the official websites of the hosts of the Olympics and these tables usually attract a lot of interest from sports fans all over the world. So what do these lists tell us? Are they an indicator of the development of sport in a given country or ego-pleasing figures? Let's try to figure it out.
Here, for example, is the list of medals from the last Olympics in Tokyo. It is worth noting that the hosts of the last Olympics, the Japanese, made the medal table relatively democratic and the user can set filters himself, arranging the countries alphabetically or putting the countries with the least number of medals at the top of it.
The so-called leaders in this table, as we can see, are countries with large populations - the USA, China, Russia, and the UK. The Netherlands, with its relatively small population of 10 million, is rather an exception in this company. Of course, it's nice to see your country ahead of the rest, but some experts have long been urging the public to move towards a fairer system for assessing the sporting success of countries at the Olympic Games. For example, one that takes into the number of Olympic medals per country's population. This seems to be quite fair. Otherwise, how can one compare the sports successes of one and a half billion China and small Grenada.
As we can see from the table, the most successful in this indicator were not giants such as China and the United States, but modest island states. It should be noted that the leaders of the quantitative list of the United States have one medal per 3 million people, China – one medal per 15 million, and Russia - one medal per 2 million.
Naturally, the large-scale commercialization of the Games and its politicization led to the fact that the achievement of results, both sporting and commercial, has become almost the main measure of the success of modern athletes, which of course runs counter to the bright ideals of the Olympics of the era of Pierre Coubertin. However, despite this, the Olympics, along with the Football World Cup, remains the main sporting event in the world today, attracting a multi-million audience of spectators all over the globe.
Caliber.Az
1
|
High time to declare US ambassador persona non grata Mr. Libby, take your suitcase and leave for Washington
05 May 2024 - 12:06
|
2
|
Factory burst into flames in Germany PHOTO / VIDEO
03 May 2024 - 16:19
|
3
|
EU aid to Armenia stalled as Hungary pushes for Azerbaijan's inclusion Geopolitical tensions revealed
02 May 2024 - 17:41
|
4
|
Profiling Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan – Tavush region protest leader
03 May 2024 - 17:20
|
5
|
Turning point for Georgia - Foreign Agents Law Georgian experts’ views for Caliber.Az
02 May 2024 - 12:40
|
Ukraine marks its third Easter at war under fire from Russian drones
05 May 2024 - 22:00
Chinese president visiting Europe for first time in five years
goodwill tour to be uphill struggle05 May 2024 - 20:03
Hamas, Hezbollah launch about 30 missiles at Israel
05 May 2024 - 18:02
EU at risk of "implosion" as far-right seeks scapegoats, minister warns
05 May 2024 - 17:45
West destabilising situation in Georgia
Security, impunity for (foreign) agents05 May 2024 - 17:28
FT: Russia plotting sabotage across Europe
05 May 2024 - 17:23
Finland plans to build explosives factory
05 May 2024 - 17:04
Ukraine requests emergency energy from Poland, Romania
05 May 2024 - 16:43
Netanyahu government votes to close Al Jazeera channel in Israel
05 May 2024 - 16:24
UN assistant secretary-general to visit Armenia's border with Azerbaijan
05 May 2024 - 16:05
NATO's secret red lines: Alliance prepared to act if third party intervenes in Ukraine conflict
05 May 2024 - 15:46
Albanian-Udi community to celebrate Easter in ancestors’ churches in Karabakh
05 May 2024 - 15:29
Media: Still no deal in Israel-Hamas truce talks
Cairo meeting results05 May 2024 - 15:13
Armenian priests, peddling false narratives
Unmasking revanchist rhetoric05 May 2024 - 14:57
US official: Defence pact with Saudi Arabia impossible without Israel deal
05 May 2024 - 14:54
Bondholders to push Ukraine to resume debt payments
05 May 2024 - 14:36
Cuba abolishes visa regime for Chinese citizens
05 May 2024 - 14:17
S. Korea to participate in US-led cyber exercise this week
05 May 2024 - 13:58
French president favours continued dialogue with Russia amid tensions in Ukraine
05 May 2024 - 13:40
Three New York synagogues, Brooklyn Museum targeted in bomb threats
False alarm05 May 2024 - 13:21
Pro-Palestine rallies sweep across European cities amid Gaza onslaught
05 May 2024 - 13:02
Azerbaijan, Bangladesh discuss opportunities for cooperation in healthcare
PHOTO05 May 2024 - 12:44
Azerbaijan, Gambia cancel visa regime for diplomatic passport holders
PHOTO05 May 2024 - 12:27
France prepares for cyberattacks from Russia during Paris Olympic Games
05 May 2024 - 12:08
High time to declare US ambassador persona non grata
Mr. Libby, take your suitcase and leave for Washington05 May 2024 - 12:06
Hamas reveals plans for negotiations with Israel
05 May 2024 - 11:49
Azerbaijan, Morocco cancel visa regime
05 May 2024 - 11:32
Double standards and Michel's confession
Europe's hypocrisy05 May 2024 - 11:18
Russian troops take control of Ukraine's largest fortification in Krasnohorivka
05 May 2024 - 11:16
Azerbaijan, Somalia discuss issues of mutual cooperation
PHOTO05 May 2024 - 10:55
Georgia interested in cooperation on Green Corridor project, PM says
05 May 2024 - 10:39
Armenians protesting against delimitation of border with Azerbaijan reach Ijevan town
05 May 2024 - 10:18
World-renowned photojournalist plans to publish new books on his Karabakh journey
05 May 2024 - 10:01
Azerbaijani minister: Zangezur corridor to be beneficial for all countries in South Caucasus
05 May 2024 - 09:46
Azerbaijan to host 16th OIC Islamic Summit
05 May 2024 - 09:30
OIC urges Armenia to fulfill its commitments
05 May 2024 - 09:08
Bird flu outbreak in US cattle sparks fears over next global health crisis
05 May 2024 - 08:50
Senior UN official says northern Gaza is now in “full-blown famine”
05 May 2024 - 06:30
F-16 outclasses MiG-29 RAC in agility
05 May 2024 - 04:25
SEC shuts down Trump Media auditor over "massive fraud"
05 May 2024 - 02:20