Number Of Gold Medals Won Research Articles

Membership of English sport clubs: A dynamic panel data analysis of the trickle-down effect

ABSTRACT Investments in elite sport and major sporting events are often justified in sport policy by various rationales, one of which is a ‘trickle-down’ effect whereby successful athletes have a positive impact on general sport participation rates. This effect is likely to be greater when hosting events, as home advantage can contribute to sporting success. The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of a trickle-down effect on sports club membership in the United Kingdom in the context of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Secondary data were collected on sports club membership levels in 33 sports, over a ten-year period, from 2007–2016 (n = 330). Sporting success was measured by the number of gold medals won in international competitions, the number of major sport events hosted in the UK, and the results of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award (SPOTY). The outcomes of a dynamic panel regression analysis show a causal relationship between the trickle-down effect and sports club membership over a four-year period.

仮想市場法を用いた日本のエリートスポーツ政策の貨幣的評価：縦断データによる時間的信頼性の検証

This article reports an application of the contingent valuation method for estimating the monetary value of elite sport policy in Japan. In particular, we tested the temporal reliability issue, which is one of the main limitations reported in the literature, by using a longitudinal survey design. A series of longitudinal questionnaires were administered via an internet-based survey to a sex- and age-stratified random sample of 850 adult Japanese respondents. Baseline assessment took place immediately before the 2012 Summer Olympics (T1: July 2012), with post-assessment (T2: August 2012) and a follow-up 6 months later (T3: February 2013). In each survey, the respondents were asked to state their willingness to pay (WTP) for elite sport policy, which aims to achieve the official target of ‘The Sports Basic Plan’ (i.e. ranking in the top five for the total number of gold medals won in the Summer Olympics and the top ten in the Winter Olympics) in a hypothesised scenario. WTP was elicited using a double-bounded dichotomous-choice approach. Statistical analysis of 613 respondents who completed the entire survey revealed that there were no significant changes in the WTP between the time points. Consequently, the total WTP was reliably estimated to be within the region of ¥50.9-59.3 billion, which was two and half times higher than public elite sport expenditure (around ¥22.7 billion).

Welfare Optimal Distribution of Olympic Success Considered as a Public Good

This study considers the performance of countries at the Olympic Games as a public good and investigates different welfare optimal distributions of Olympic success. First, it is argued that at the national level Olympic success, measured as the number of gold medals won, meets the two key conditions of a public good, nonrivalry and non-excludability. Second, it is demonstrated that standard income inequality measures as the Lorenz curve and Atkinson’s measure can successfully be applied to the distribution of Olympic success. Four different distributions are considered: the actual distribution, the distribution according to population shares, the distribution under constant and declining marginal utility of medals and the one also taking production costs and declining marginal utility of per capita income into account. For the latter two, the rules for the welfare optimal distributions are stated, viz. equality of the marginal contributions to welfare and the Samuelson condition. At the end, a device is proposed to make the distribution of Olympic success more equitable.