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SPORTS POLICY FACTORS LEADING TO INTERNATIONAL SPORTING SUCCESS
: A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY
Simon Shibli & Jerry Bingham
Over the last few decades the power struggle between nations to
win medals in major international competitions has intensified.
This has led to national sports organisations and governments throughout
the world spending increasing sums of money on elite sport. The
fundamental principle of what has been described as 'a global sporting
arms race' is that international sporting success can be produced
by investing strategically in elite sport.
Nevertheless, in spite of increasing competition and the homogenisation
of elite sports systems, the optimum strategy for delivering international
success is still unclear. There is no model for comparing, and increasing,
the efficiency and effectiveness of elite sport investments and
management systems. This makes it difficult for sports managers
and policy makers to prioritise and to make the right choices in
elite sports policy.
The SPLISS project, a joint UK, Belgian and Dutch initiative, is
seeking to develop an empirically-grounded, coherent theory on the
factors determining international sporting success, starting with
a pilot study in the three partner nations plus Canada, Italy and
Norway. The authors examine various ways in which to measure sporting
success, develop an analytical framework to facilitate comparison
of national policy systems, and seek to explore the relationship
between the two sets of findings.
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