Medal Standings by population ...

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

*sigh* That was simply an example.

My point was that if you don't think athlete funding should come from your tax dollars because tax dollars should be spent on more important things.... then perhaps athlete funding could come from your entertainment budget. Watching Simon Whitfield's effort to win the silver medal last Olympics means far more to me than watching "Cowboys vs Aliens" at the theatre. The former cost nothing, the latter cost $10. Perhaps I could have skipped the latter and gave the money to OTP.

To expand on your point- technically some television company paid big buck to the IOC to be able to broadcast the Olympics. Look at the other thread it's in the 100's of million per Olympics. Where does all of that money go? It seems crazy that a good amount of that television revenue doesn't make it's way back into training and support for the atheletes.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by ken0042

To expand on your point- technically some television company paid big buck to the IOC to be able to broadcast the Olympics. Look at the other thread it's in the 100's of million per Olympics. Where does all of that money go? It seems crazy that a good amount of that television revenue doesn't make it's way back into training and support for the atheletes.

That's a really good question. I did a quick search for how the IOC spends its money, and the info from the IOC themselves is incredibly general and vague, but it does seem like they put a significant amount back into the National Olympic Committees as well as the as well as the International Sports Federations.

http://www.olympic.org/ioc-financing...s-distribution

But there's no detail about how much, how it's allocated, or what sort of oversight they have to ensure it's properly spent.

[Thor]

If Iceland wins a medal in Handball, which it has a decent shot at; it will absolutely trash everyone on this list, at a population of 300,000 people per medal