Phelps 18 gold - Argentina 17 gold

[erian]

That says about everything but when I tell an Argentine that he/she will say how hard it is in Argentina to play sports, and there is no state policy to support athletes

First there is a state policy atleast the last few years and playing sports and excell in sports has all got to with those 3 factors

1: talent
2: dedication
3: family who you support and motivate to reach for the stars

Money is really a Non factor in this, its true that most athletes get financial asistence from there state when they are grown up but the first 18 years of your life you and your family are responsible for your succes

I even think its easier to be an athlete in Argentina because i cant imagine that half the athletes would have qualified if there was a global qualification

For example male hockey, volleybal and handbal teams and probally many more indivdual athletes

Utter crap.

Money has everything to do with it!! If you don't invest in grass roots training, facilities etc. then the youth will have much less of a chance to excel at sport. Then paying a salary/sponsorship allows athletes to focus on their chosen sport. No money equals no training, as they have to put food on the table.

For example GB invested 36million pounds in track cycling in 2011 alone!! And look at the success!

A lot of people here just dying to put Argentina/Argentinans down whenever they can. Gets very boring very quick!

 

[scotttswan]

Money does have a lot to do with it. Take Equestrian for example.... what sort of people get into that?

 

[katti]

Although I agree that money is a very important factor, it is also the culture of the country.

For example in secondary schools in Belgium, they have 2 h of sports a week, usually devided in 2 hours (so 1 h minus dressing and undressing, putting things up etc). They don't have sportsteams in schools (like soccer/hockey/etc) competing between schools etc.
SPorts are done outside of school (weekends), and they discourage you to do so, as you need all the time you can get to study for school.

Now try to do whatever sport on a high level in this atmosphere...

It is striking how many medals both US and China have, but also UK and France score well. The rest of the world stays behind...

 

[whatadahl]

Money does have a lot to do with it. Take Equestrian for example.... what sort of people get into that?

I've got to agree with this 110% regarding the U.S. I've ridden and shown my whole life, on a national and international level. By luck of the draw, my parents aren't billionaires and so working for all my trainers was the reality. What did that get me? A great appreciation for the sport, some awesome opportunities and a cold slap to the face when I aged out of the juniors and no one wanted an adult rider. While I still ride, $100,000k and up horses (or .5 mil and up for olympic level) just aren't a possibility. So yes, 99% of riders from the U.S. are loaded and the other 1% got a miracle sponsor behind them.

Now, the riders from South America are quite different. In the U.S. sponsors are a dime a dozen ONCE you've proven yourself at the top level. Companies fight to sponsor a good international rider. My boyfriend, who ironically goes to Argentina to buy his young jumpers at a fraction of the ones for sale in the U.S.) is Venezuelan-a country very much in support of it's riding team (at least in all ways but financially!) We've spoken to the federation about it as the bf is very well qualified (thankfully to a very generous sponsor!) and they will not consider a spot on the team without a huge "donation" by rider or sponsor. Payment to be on the Olympic team!?

As far as Argentina-an Argentinean rider here in the U.S. actually qualified the country as an individual-yet the federation's prez has a son who rides, ergo that is Argentina's representative. Not the guy who qualified the country, but the kid who had a connection. With corruption like that-can you blame talented athletes for being deterred from wanting to try to represent their country. Money rules 99%, corruption/name-dropping rules the rest.

I still have faith in the Olympics and love watching it. Hell, hopefully I'll be in Rio 2016 to watch Venezuela....if we can cough up enough $$ before then to pay off the federation.

 

[fuccolini]

@El Chabon, sorry to poo poo your post but really, who cares?

Big deal, Phelps got 18 medals, good for him, his family and the sponsors of the Olympics who receive higher ratings during their ad spots. Why do we always feel the need to constantly make competitive comparisons all the time. Why does everything have to be a competition?

Maybe the medal count is important to you but I highly doubt that it's important to the average Argentine. With all the problems going on in this country today, I'm sure one of the last items is how many medals the country brings home from the over publicized and over hyped Olympics.

in the spirit of the olympics i don't think poo pooing posts is in fair play. secondly, "big deal" to phelps? you sound like you just wikipedia-d what competitive athletics and the olympic games are. third, argentinians are sports fans to the bone and the average argentine who may be the most impoverished south american between the equator and antarctica, but when the national team wins the world cup, its like hitting the lottery. glory in sports is unbelievably important to them.

 

[bomber]

Yes, but the glory of football compared to almost every other sport is that you need no money to play it. I spent 2 years working with kids from slums in Kenya, and so many of them had great football skills from playing with a bunch of rags wrapper with string.

There's a reason it's the world game.

 

[PhilinBSAS]

Yes, but the glory of football compared to almost every other sport is that you need no money to play it. I spent 2 years working with kids from slums in Kenya, and so many of them had great football skills from playing with a bunch of rags wrapper with string.

There's a reason it's the world game.

And running? don't even need a ball. Kenyan are superlative at that. Even with not latest hi-tech shoes in fact no shoes at all. I love football but arguably running is the prime universal sport and the basis of most others at least in training regimes.

 

[El chabon]

Yes, but the glory of football compared to almost every other sport is that you need no money to play it. I spent 2 years working with kids from slums in Kenya, and so many of them had great football skills from playing with a bunch of rags wrapper with string.

There's a reason it's the world game.

For swimming you need a swimmingpool, plentyfull available for anybody from the middle class and up in Argentina

 

[El chabon]

Definitely crap. And isn't that a valid viewpoint?

Shall we compare the money available for sports programs in schools & universities in the US compared to Argentina?

What happens before you turn 16-18? And some point your family must stimulate and help you archive your goals. Highschool and college programs do probally really help the US though, but not all first world countries have it organized like that

Or the number of sporting fields/venues in both schools and outside schools?

For someone in Argentina from the middle class there are plenty of posibilities to excell in sports, both outside as in school

Or the population?

300 milion vs 40 milion

Should I go on?

Please do

Next you'll be comparing the US swim team's performance against the Kenyan swim team's.

You need a pool to swim, wow.

But basically, this comment shows you have absolutely no idea about what is required to achieve world class sporting performance:

Thanks for the good arguments about it and thanks for the insult.

Or are the top football/baseball/basketball/any-sport clubs at the top due merely to their good training programs?

Tell me...

 

[El chabon]

Utter crap.

Money has everything to do with it!! If you don't invest in grass roots training, facilities etc. then the youth will have much less of a chance to excel at sport. Then paying a salary/sponsorship allows athletes to focus on their chosen sport. No money equals no training, as they have to put food on the table.

For example GB invested 36million pounds in track cycling in 2011 alone!! And look at the success!

A lot of people here just dying to put Argentina/Argentinans down whenever they can. Gets very boring very quick!

How come Argentina can be succesfull at elite sports like Rugby, hockey, tennis and are not in different kind of sports?

Basketbal is probally a bit in between, but it's an indoorsport. Why can't they be succesfull at volleybal or handbal?