Another insightful and thought provoking article. Kudos. While reading I had two immediate questions/thoughts.
- Are colleges really the key pipeline for developing Olympic champions as illustrated the medal chart shared or is this a correlation without causation? Meaning the best/committed athletes are choosing the college route not because it is the best pipeline to Olympic medaling but rather the path they are choosing for their life while playing and training.
-The model and challenges for Olympic sports als0 highlights how the US has used the existence of 'free labor' for generating large revenue from Football and Basketball that is often defended by saying it is paying for all these other sports. Is this a justification or a reality or both?
Good questions. College offers the best training environment, hence it's pipeline presence and for international athletes I think the value of an American education is a nice bonus.
I don't think we'll know the answer for #2 until after football breaks away and we can see first-hand the impact. Also most olympic sport athletes pay for most of their college as well so in essence I feel they could support paying for their athletic experience if broken away from football/basketball - definitely just schools hoarding money.
Another insightful and thought provoking article. Kudos. While reading I had two immediate questions/thoughts.
- Are colleges really the key pipeline for developing Olympic champions as illustrated the medal chart shared or is this a correlation without causation? Meaning the best/committed athletes are choosing the college route not because it is the best pipeline to Olympic medaling but rather the path they are choosing for their life while playing and training.
-The model and challenges for Olympic sports als0 highlights how the US has used the existence of 'free labor' for generating large revenue from Football and Basketball that is often defended by saying it is paying for all these other sports. Is this a justification or a reality or both?
Good questions. College offers the best training environment, hence it's pipeline presence and for international athletes I think the value of an American education is a nice bonus.
I don't think we'll know the answer for #2 until after football breaks away and we can see first-hand the impact. Also most olympic sport athletes pay for most of their college as well so in essence I feel they could support paying for their athletic experience if broken away from football/basketball - definitely just schools hoarding money.
Good points and thanks for the responses! It does seem we are moving quickly to seeing football break away.