Other structural advantages

Analysis of olympic medals shows a clear home field advantage. Interestingly, this advantage does not disappear in the following olympics. Part of the better results derive from a larger number of participants from the host country and the advantage is reduced when participation is controlled for. Reduced, but not eliminated. A good set of hypotheses states

• that Olympics spark interest in sports in the host country (more than in the average country);
• that local athletes and coaches have a first-rate experience with training methods and strategies;
• that sports' budgets increase.

Countries allocating more resources to olympic sports fare better. This was clearly the case of socialist countries, the the GDR and Cuba as outstanding examples. Excellence in competitive sports had an intimate association with national propaganda. GNP per capita and other indicators of wealth also correlate with medals (there are many ways of computing medals, such as simple sum, weighted sum, prior measures plus adjustment for team sports and so on). Excellence in a given sport, once established, tends to reproduce and has staying power.