The Olympic Games in Spain did not happen. Days before the Paris event, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, had shown confidence that the Spanish delegation would surpass Barcelona’s 22 medals (92), but the country fell short once again. The final balance for the national sport was cautious: 18 metals, five gold, four silver and nine bronze, as well as a strikingly high number of Olympic diplomas (51). Although he himself insisted that he considered this result to be “good”. The COE has already admitted that “it was not as expected”.

But its president encourages us to look beyond the metals list and focus on another issue: investment, which raises the question of whether Spain has achieved good, mediocre results at the Olympic Games or simply achieved the results it has paid for.

“Not the expected result”. This statement comes from Alejandro Blanco, who had to digest some hidden results after declaring at the end of July that it was possible to surpass the Barcelona 24 medal ranking in Paris 92, or at best, far from what was expected. Spain won 18 medals, 5 gold, a balance very slightly above Tokyo 20 and Rio 16. If we look only at the metals, it remains in 15th place in the ranking, behind Hungary.

From enthusiasm to reflectionThe Spanish delegation returns home with 18 medals, one more than in Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016, a detail highlighted by Blanco himself, who spoke of a “good” final balance. But the president of the COE also assumed that “this was not what was expected”. “Before arriving we thought that Spain could break the record of 22 medals, but this is the competition. We are a few medals behind.”

Blanco even recalled that his prediction was one of the most “modest”. Some analysts said that he predicted that Spain would win 30 medals, eight more than in Barcelona. As you recall CountryWhen making comparisons with Barcelona 92, it is necessary to take into account two important factors: while 260 events were held in Barcelona, ​​329 events were held in Paris, which increases the chances of reaching the podium; the French Olympics were also marked by the absence of the official delegation of Russia, a major competitor confirmed by the war in Ukraine.

The medal issue… and tickets. Blanco has come up with an equally interesting idea, perhaps even more so. Now that the Paris Games are over, he says, it’s time to “think” about why Spain hasn’t been able to get beyond the 20 medals in London or Athens, but not the 22 in Barcelona. And there’s a big factor in that discussion: money.

“While we are talking about the medal table, let’s also talk about investment. If we compare ourselves with the countries next to us that have won many more medals than us, we have to put on the table the money they have received and the money Spain has received. “Blanco drew attention. We are above the result-investment coefficient”.

The head of the COE even focused on the financing and resource allocation model used in Spain. “The responsibility for high performance is tied to the public money that the Supreme Sports Council (CSD) gives to the federations,” he reminded. “In most of the successful countries, the Government gives the money to the national Olympic Committee, which distributes it. “It happens in Korea, Japan, Italy or the Netherlands. It allows for long-term planning.”

Important debate, not new. It is not the first time that Spain has made news about the resources it has devoted to Olympic sports and the investments it has made in winning medals. In fact, it became clear during the last Games in 2021 that the Spanish delegation will say goodbye to Tokyo without repeating or even exceeding its medal table from ’92. ADO Plan during each Olympic cycle. The data was interesting because the program was launched precisely in 1988, ahead of the Barcelona ’92 Games, with the aim of improving Spanish athletic performance.

So how did it develop? The investment data in the ADO plan is significant. At least between 1988 and 2020. Figures collected by the Statista portal show that in the period 1988-1992 the funds allocated to the program amounted to 79 million euros; this amount had already fallen to 32 million in the 1992-1996 Olympic cycle and was 46 in 2000-2004. In reality, no cycle equaled the support of 88-92, at least until the final period of 2016-2020. Looking at Beijing 08, it reached 63 million. Over the years, the ADO Plan itself has experienced ups and downs due to the decline in contributions from companies and RTVE.

“Long-term” vision. A little over a year ago, RTVE, CSD and COE signed a collaboration agreement to develop the programme in 2023 and 2024, with the aim of supporting the 2024 Olympic athletes; however, as Alejandro Blanco made clear yesterday, the sports planning of the Games is closed in the long term and requires an “ongoing” bet. Today’s results are explained more by recent investments than by those of recent years.

“What you need most to achieve results is constant planning. Think of the 2036 Games, not the 2028 Games.” For example, “In 2016, the money in euros was the same as Spanish sports received in pesetas in 1986. No matter how much we increase, we are far from other countries.”

Checking the numbers. How much money is currently allocated to Olympic sports with a view to improving Spain’s record and position? It is not easy to state. In 2022, the CSD launched the ‘Team Spain Elite’ program with the aim of “giving new impetus to the Olympic and Paralympic sports model”, precisely in view of the event to be held in Paris this year. Their donation: just under 50 million euros.

“The program will be provided with approximately 48 million per year, that is, 16 million, until the organization of the next Games. This amount will be dedicated to financing the preparation of athletes who will always have more options to win medals based on technical criteria”, included the note published by the CSD at the time. In 2023, the same organization announced 19 million in aid to top-level athletes, of which 12 million are scholarships from the CDS Team Spain program, “with CSD taking over the previously known ADO scholarships”.

What about in other countries? It is not easy to compare financing systems between countries, but we have already noted that some illustrative data, such as the annual allocation of the COE in 2021, was considerably lower than those managed by Italian or British counterparts, suggesting that this money was “allocated”. “In England or Australia, each medal was well above Spain. In 2016, for example. According to data compiled by the newspaper at the time, each medal cost Britain around £4.1 million in planned investment over four years. Independent.

BBC Sport’s statistics section includes updated data on the Paris Olympics, showing that UK Sport has allocated £245.8 million to fund the 2020-2024 Olympic cycle, meaning each medal in Paris will cost around £3.78 million on average. There are sources that put the total UK investment in Olympic scholarships at well over £245.8 million, and compare this to CSD programmes in Spain.

Reward medal winners.a few days ago Forbes published another interesting analysis: an analysis of countries that spend more than a million to reward their athletes with bonuses, subsidies and extra benefits when they get on the podium. Which nations and amounts did they cover? Italy leads with a total investment of 10.7 million, followed by France (9.4), the USA (8.3), Hungary (3.8), Hong Kong (1.9), Ukraine (1.5), Israel (1.5) and the Netherlands (1.3).

What is particularly interesting is that Hungary, with a much lower population level and tighter GDP per capita than Spain, finished just ahead of Spain, winning 19 medals at the Paris Olympics.

A complex challenge. Planning the Olympics is not easy. And not just for the city that hosts them. As the head of the COE recalled yesterday, shining at the center of universal sport requires “constant planning” and consideration of other factors that affect the results.

Years ago, a team of researchers analyzed the relationship between sports investment and success at the Olympic Games and concluded that, although it may seem obvious, it is crucial: At the Games, a country does not compete solely on its past investments; its greater or lesser success is also affected by what its competitors are doing.

Reflection of a country. There are also nuances. Studies show that team sports require more investment but provide proportionately fewer medals, and that the most “profitable” disciplines in terms of medals are athletics, swimming or similar sports, and these are the ones that yield the most returns.

Factors such as the size of the countries, the income per capita or, in the case of women’s categories, the economic opportunities that women find also come into play. In any case, there are no infallible rules, as the Paris ranking shows, with 51 diplomas and nine fourth places, some Spanish analysts are already calling it “almost” the Olympic Games.

Images | Andrew (Flickr) 1 and 2

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