China has used the Olympics as a “coming out party”. Like a young teenager in the modern world scene, China was excited and expectant; it planned and prepared itself meticulously, and held a wonderful party, in the opening and the closing ceremonies, as well as in its sporting performance.
Of course China still has huge inequalities, as well as limited freedom of information, self-expression and political choice. However, it is quite clear that the vast majority of the Chinese people are supportive of this huge collective effort to modernize and achieve a better standard of living, and a leadership position in the world. At least in the number of medals won they have clearly shown that in Olympic sports they have achieved a place among the world leaders!
Should Brazil emulate this investment in sports? Does that make sense in economic, political and social terms? Obviously not, if one measures success by the number of gold medals won. Would anything change if Brazil, instead of a meager 15 medals, including 3 gold, had won 20 gold medals instead? The immediate and simplistic answer seems to be clearly “no”.
However, if sports in general were truly valued, our companies, government and society would invest a lot more in sport preparation of our young generations. We would have thousands, perhaps millions of aspiring athletes; 4 to 6 hours of school would be complemented by 2-3 hours of sports activities every day; our young people would have less time for drugs, crimes and for foolish pastimes; the would learn more about values and like persistence, determination, practice, and constant improvement. They would learn more about individual and group work, and they would learn respect, competence and to be competitive. They would learn to win with grace and to lose honorably.
With a strong sports culture, we would prepare more and better leaders and team players; we would have a healthier, more active population (with fewer smokers!), and our country would be more recognized internationally and project a positive aspect of its culture and people.
It is very clear that once we go beyond a simplistic cost analysis which compares only the cost of a stadium with the value of tickets sold, we will realize that developing a strong sports culture together with education can be a fundamental force to forge a better society.
Congratulations to China on their Olympic effort!
James Wright
Director, FIA Business School
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