Vol. 29 No. 312 (2024)
National pride and global inequality in sports
Success in sport has notable significance because it fosters national pride and social cohesion. At the same time, it impacts the positive international image because athletes operate as ambassadors, spreading values associated with their talent and effort. These achievements can inspire new generations to achieve their dreams and thus contribute to the training of more high-performance athletes. Many nations even use sporting triumphs as an effective tool for soft diplomacy by establishing links of cooperation and fraternizing with others.
These are the reasons why the most powerful countries invest a lot of money in the training of athletes and this is verified in the medal tables. In the Olympic Games there is practically an almost coincidence between economic power and the position obtained. It is no coincidence that the United States and China, the hegemonic powers of this century, have led in medals obtained in recent events.
But medals do not always come from the training of the athletes themselves. Countries with more resources offer better economic incentives and financial benefits for changing nationality to athletes born in countries with less economic development. Many of these countries make enormous efforts to support high performance training programs, although ultimately other flags will wave on the podiums. Not getting the necessary support leads athletes to seek new horizons that would provide them better opportunities to stand out in the elite. In this context, in football there is at least an obligation to pay training fees and the majority of international sports federations contribute little to reverse this injustice.
Tulio Guterman, Director - May 2024
Published:
2024-05-06
