Elite sport and the new economic development geographies. Comment on “The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sports” by Veerle De Bosscher, Bruno Heyndels, Paul De Knop

Stijn Oosterlynck

doi:10.4000/belgeo.10317

Abstract

De Bosscher, De Knop, Heyndels and van Bottenburg develop an objective methodology for the measurement of success of nations in elite sport contests. After discussing the merits of absolute and relative measures of success, they argue in favour of the latter because controlling for “exogenous macro-influences” such as GDP per capita, population size and political system allows for an evaluation of the effectiveness of national sport policies. I have no problems with the argument in its own ri...

Highlights

Success is celebrated as a national victory and is often mobilised by political-economic elites to boost national feelings of pride, unity and cohesion, often in the face of the social divisions that cut through societies
1 De Bosscher, De Knop, Heyndels and van Bottenburg develop an objective methodology for the measurement of success of nations in elite sport contests
The training system of athletes is likened to a national production complex governed by strategic planning efforts and human capital management and aimed at increasing global market share. Given this discursive representation of elite sports as an economic sector and system of production that needs to be governed by the same kind of strategic planning efforts and economic development strategies as any other economic sector, it seems only fair to put this argument in the context of contemporary debates on the nature of the “economic” in economic geography and planning and development studies

Summary

Introduction

Success is celebrated as a national victory and is often mobilised by political-economic elites to boost national feelings of pride, unity and cohesion, often in the face of the social divisions that cut through societies. Comment on “The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sports” by Veerle De Bosscher, Bruno Heyndels, Paul De Knop », Belgeo [Online], 2 | 2008, Online since 20 October 2013, connection on 22 September 2020.

Results

Conclusion