Why is the US so good at sports?

[lozen]

Its all about Money and science. They invest a ton into it.

[Vincent]

I think technology is the US's greatest advantage. It gives them the edge in all those sports where a split second is the difference between gold & silver.

[Iplayboard]

I'm not sure they really are. Medal-predicting forumals based on population and economics have shown the US to basically perform equal to their expected level.

If you want to look at team sports, the US is pretty much the best at the sports they invented. Congratulations, I hear the Aussies are really good at Australian Rules Football.

[Clarkmeister]

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I'm not sure they really are. Medal-predicting forumals based on population and economics have shown the US to basically perform equal to their expected level.


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There's your answer.

[BobJoeJim]

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Black people

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So how come we are also good at sports that are not football, basketball, tack, and boxing?

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White people

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LMAO!!!!!! Oh, it's funny because it's true.

[Cancuk]

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Not purely economical, but the American way of life lends itself to leisure time, which means that youths can spend years becoming good at something that has very little utility, without having to work in a shoe factory or help out their ten brothers and sisters with the subsistence farming duties.

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This is economical.

[Spaderess]

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Why is the US so good at sports compared to all other countries?

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They're not. US is about the same size as western Europe (populationwise). You can start adding the medals for those countries.

The real question should be how a country as small as Sweden ... ?

But seriously, athletic scholarships and the overall quality of american college sports is a main reason the US produces so many good athletes. No matter what sport you play, you can practice and compeate with the best.

[BigBlind]

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Why is the US so good at sports compared to all other countries? I made this with the Olympics in mind,......

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They're not. US is about the same size as western Europe (populationwise). You can start adding the medals for those countries.



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Considering the US population I would say they are actually underperforming in the winter olympics compared to countries with similar standard of living


USA has a population of 295 million and currently has 8 gold medals.

Germany population 82 million (3.5 times smaller than USA). 10 goldmedals
Canada population 32 million (9 times smaller than USA). 6 gold medals
Sweden population 9 million (33 times smaller smaller than USA). 6 gold medals
Austria population 8 million (37 times smaller than USA). 8 gold medals


Comparing gold medals per million people it seems USA are actually underperforming. If one looks at the all time winter olympic leaderboard USA has 77 gold medals and is in 3:rd place. The leading nation Norway has 98 and a population of 4.6 million (65 times smaller than USA).

The formula to become a great sport nation is simply great population and good standard of living. USA therefore is and will probably always be one of the best sport nations world wide. Congrats [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. It isn't because of some superior US sporting gene though.

[EvilSmurf]

Last summer olympics (all figures are rounded):

USA
Population 295,734,134 Gold Medals: 35
People Per Gold: 8,449,547
Total Medals: 103
People Per Medal: 2,871,205

China
Population: 1,306,313,812 Gold Medals: 32
PPG: 40,822,307
Total Medals: 92
PPM: 14,199,063

Russia
Population: 143,420,309 Gold Medals: 27
PPG: 5,311,863
Total Medals: 92
PPM: 1,558,916

Australia
Population: 20,090,437 Gold Medals: 17
PPG: 1,181,790
Total Medals: 49
PPM: 410,009
We have a winner!

[roundmound]

The point is that the US is good at every sport, not just the summer olympics (Austraila), not just the winter olympics(norway) The only countries that have similar dominance in both are germany and russia.