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Qual Quant (2012) 46:189205
DOI 10.1007/s11135-010-9351-7
RESEARCH PAPER
Charlotte Van Tuyckom Karl G. Jreskog
Published online: 20 June 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract Winning medals at the Olympic Games has become an objective that countries worldwide want to achieve. In line with research devoted to the predictors of success, the present article examines the connection between certain welfare characteristics (political, social, and economic development) and the probability of success in the 1984 and 2004 Olympics. We expected to nd that structural macro conditions still predict Olympic success. Using welfare indicators as formative instead of reective indicators (Bollen, Qual Quant 183: 7785, 1984, p. 65), the results of our Structural Equation Model reveal that both economic and social development had an effect in 1984, as well as in 2004. Political development was only significant in 1984. As for the control variables, population size was significant in both 1984 and 2004. Sporting tradition and geographical conditions had no effect at all. The model t is very good with a chi-square of 6.62 with 5 degrees of freedom (p = 0.25).
Keywords Structural equation approach Olympic summer games
Welfare characteristics Formative indicators Elite sports
1 Introduction
The Olympic Summer Games have a long history. In 1892 Baron Pierre de Coubertin organized the rst modern Olympics at Athens, aiming to revive the spirit of the ancient Olympic Games. Since then they have become one of the largest sporting events around the globe, attracting worldwide interest for a 16-day period every 4 years. The 2004 Athens Olympics, for example, hosted over 11,000 athletes who were watched by approximately 4 million
C. Van Tuyckom (B)
Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Korte Meer 5, 9000 Ghent, Belgium e-mail: [email protected]
K. G. Jreskog
Department of Sociology, Norwegian School of Management, Oslo, Norway e-mail: [email protected]
C. Van Tuyckom, & K. Jreskog, Going for gold! Welfare characteristics and Olympic success:an application of the structural equation approach. Quality & Quantity (in press)
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190 C. Van Tuyckom, K. G. Jreskog
ticketed spectators and 20,000 journalists and broadcasters, and around 4 billion people followed the Olympics on television (Rathke and Woitek 2008). The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the governing body of the Olympic movement, proclaims the Olympic Games as a celebration of individual as opposed...