If you check the london olympics medals table you will discover that the countries grabbing most medals are those with a good level of economic and political stability, while countries such as Nigeria with almost zero stability are yet to get a medal. China and the united states are currently leading the medals table and this is a reflection of the political and economic rivalry between these two nations. Can anyone explain this?

Wealthy countries can afford good education.
Good education includes physical education.

Countries like Nigeria with rife poverty cannot afford the training and leisure which develops into professional level sport.

Blackteeth: If you check the london olympics medals table you will discover that the countries grabbing most medals are those with a good level of economic and political stability, while countries such as Nigeria with almost zero stability are yet to get a medal. China and the united states are currently leading the medals table and this is a reflection of the political and economic rivalry between these two nations. Can anyone explain this?

More about the individual than the country's political or economic life.

Ki-Katanga:
Wealthy countries can afford good education.
Good education includes physical education.

Countries like Nigeria with rife poverty cannot afford the training and leisure which develops into professional level sport.

What to say about Jamaica,Kenya or Ethiopia? They must be awash with billions of dollars and everyone is wealthy.

Scandinavia and petro-dollar rich Gulf states?

bokohalal:
More about the individual than the country's political or economic life.



What to say about Jamaica,Kenya or Ethiopia? They must be awash with billions of dollars and everyone is wealthy.

Scandinavia and petro-dollar rich Gulf states?

The OP forgot North Korea too.

bokohalal:
More about the individual than the country's political or economic life.



What to say about Jamaica,Kenya or Ethiopia? They must be awash with billions of dollars and everyone is wealthy.

Scandinavia and petro-dollar rich Gulf states?

I mean the top 10 nations in the table with the most medals. Though it doesnt accurately conform to what am trying to say.

bokohalal:
More about the individual than the country's political or economic life.



What to say about Jamaica,Kenya or Ethiopia? They must be awash with billions of dollars and everyone is wealthy.

Scandinavia and petro-dollar rich Gulf states?

Ethiopia and Kenya have marathon academies.
Jamaica is richer than almost anywhere in Africa.

Yeske!:
The OP forgot North Korea too.

North Korea (and China) use the Olympics to prove their nation success, they invest a disproportionate amount in their sports training programmes.

The same determination required to bring about economic success is the same determination required to bring about success in about any other field Olympics inclusive. Its about the strength of mind of the people and their capacity for sheer determination as well as intense competition.

Ki-Katanga:


Ethiopia and Kenya have marathon academies.
Jamaica is richer than almost anywhere in Africa.

Jamaica is richer than almost anywhere in Africa? Could you please explain that because it is incomprehensible to me.And name the countries. Jamaica does not even appear on Skyscrapercity!

bokohalal:

Jamaica is richer than almost anywhere in Africa? Could you please explain that because it is incomprehensible to me.And name the countries. Jamaica does not even appear on Skyscrapercity!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index
HDI measures things like education systems, healthcare, equality, sevices, quality of life etcetera.

Jamaica 80th
South Africa 123rd
Nigeria 156th

People use GDP to measure a country's wealth. Your Hdi might be an indication of better management of available resources. Did you notice China in 101st position according to your HDI? The United States of America is still the richest country in the world followed by China.Delta state is richer than Edo state but the Hdi of both states is at par. And for your information,any one Nigerian state is richer than Jamaica.Bye.

bokohalal: People use GDP to measure a country's wealth. Your Hdi might be an indication of better management of available resources. Did you notice China in 101st position according to your HDI? The United States of America is still the richest country in the world followed by China.Delta state is richer than Edo state but the Hdi of both states is at par. And for your information,any one Nigerian state is richer than Jamaica.Bye.

Defensive much?

It's not an insult.

In Jamaica, you go to school, you do sports, there's a some crime but you don't worry about the day to day issues like lack of roads, lack of schools or terrorism. Same in China and the USA.

It's not realistic to expect a country struggling with terrorism, which doesn't generate enough energy for people to study, work and play unless they are in the upper echelons of society and doesn't have a proper healthcare system.

Jamaica is a much more equal society with a higher GDP per capita than Nigeria: $9,000 versus $2,600 and far lower corruption.
It has better infrastructure and healthcare as well.

Looking at total GDP is pointless - take Monaco: they have a GDP of just $5.4 billion, 2.5% of Nigeria's, but because they have a population of just 36,000, in practice they are the single richest country on earth. China is further up the total GDP rankings than anyone except America, however, since they have a population of over 1,000,000,000 that money doesn't go very far.

China's success, like North Korea and Russia (the ex-communist states, basically) are anomalous because they specifically seek Olympic success for political reasons, whereas the rest of the world simply allow people who choose to compete to do so.

It boils down to a simple question: can the average citizen in a country find a sports club that they can afford and can they spare the time and are there the training resources. In Nigeria even where those things exist, the average person can't afford them.

Nigeria isn't there yet, but hopefully it will be one day.