It's not unusual for us to hear that an American sprinter has won another world or Olympic title. The last time we heard about it, it was from the World Championships in Helsinki, where the Americans were clearly better than everyone else in the individual sprint events. They won more championships than every other country put together. Of course, that doesn't always happen, but it's clear that the high level of American athletes gives them an edge. American athletes always stay in sport elite, while athletes from other countries come and go. Also, it's hard to think of the top sprinters without Americans. Now, they win most of the championships for running short distances. Since the first Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, they have been the best athletes in the world.
To prove this point of view, I'm going to give you a so-called rating of all the nations whose athletes have ever won medals at a modern Olympic Games. A country gets 3 points for every gold medal, 2 points for every silver medal, and 1 point for every bronze medal. For example, at the 2004 Olympics, all of the men's 200-meter dash medals were won by Americans. In the women's 200-meter dash, a Jamaican came in first, an American came in second, and a Bahamian came in third. Thus Americans get 8 points, Jamaicans - 2 point, Bahamians 1 point. When we add up all the points for all the years, we get the following numbers:
100 metres:
USA 120
Europe 22
The United Kingdom 20
Canada 14
Australia 13
The rest of the world 69
200 metres:
USA 117
Europe 18
Jamaica 16
Australia 14
United Kingdom 12
The rest of the world - 63
400 metres:
USA 97
Europe 22
The United Kingdom 20
Jamaica 13
Australia 12
The rest of the world 52
In every way, the United States is far ahead of other countries. But even with such a huge advantage, it might be wrong to say that athletes from other countries are much less well trained. There were sprinting stars from Britain, Canada, the Caribbean, and other places in the 20th century. Their accomplishments are now part of sports history. Many of them are Olympic and world champions. There also world record holders among them. Now we'll talk about Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell, and Tonique Williams-Darling. Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey, Marita Koch, and Marie-Jose Perec are also people we remember from the past.
But the point is that they are the only ones who can speak for their countries. They go into sports, do really well, and then leave, leaving behind no one who can compete with them. But only the athletes from the United States always do their best. Considering that the level of training is also high in many other countries, it's hard to figure out why. In fact, what sets the United States apart from other countries is not the training process itself. It's more of a sports system organisation that chooses, trains, and encourages athletes.
common way of thinking about sports
There are two different ways that sports are organised around the world.
The first is the way most countries get money from the government. The State Sports Department keeps an eye on the Sports Federations, which make sure that athletes have good places to train, good medical care, chances to prepare, and so on. The government takes care of athletes from the start of their careers, and this makes them feel at ease.
Many of them get into sports and train like they're having fun. Here's one way to look at running: "I have a chance to get training. First, I'm going to train for fun and see how good I am at running. If I'm doing well, I'll focus more on trainings. If not, I'll just enjoy the level I've reached. My country will take care of me and give me a chance to take "pleasure" trainings like these." Some of them sprint just for fun. Some of them do well at the local level, running the 100-meter dash in 10.4–10.2 seconds, and they think that's good enough. People with a lot of drive move forward and sometimes win prizes on an international level. But most of these sprinters can't even get under 10 seconds, let alone the 9.8-9.7 seconds that are needed for major races.
So there isn't a good way to pick winners and there isn't a lot of competition.
The National Association of College Athletes
One more example is when business gets in the way of sports and the government doesn't do anything but set conditions for the athletes. This kind of model is made in the USA. In addition to professional sports, universities have a unique way of organising sports that has helped create a lot of world-famous athletes. Sports in the National Collegiate Athletic Association are very popular and get a lot of attention on TV and in the news. Even the biggest sportsbooks in the world have lines for betting on NCAA leagues. No country in the world has a situation like this. Sponsors give college teams a lot of money, and the teams want to do well so they can get more well-trained athletes. It means that talented athletes get money to help pay for school and living costs. For many of them, this is the only way to get into college. So, athletes who played for a university team have a strong drive to do well. They don't just train; they also make sure that their lives are stable. A lot of the time, college athletes do better at NCAA championships than professional athletes from other countries.
The USA model has one more good thing about it. In the United States, there are a number of sports events that get a lot of attention. These include football, basketball, baseball, hockey, track and field, and a few others. Almost every college or university has its own teams for these sports. If an athlete chooses one event at the start of his career and then finds out that he is much better at another event, he can easily switch events within the same university. There are a lot of Olympic sprint champions who are like this. Marion Jones was on the basketball team at her college. She went on to become the fastest woman in the world. Ato Boldon, a famous sprinter, began his career by playing soccer. In his younger years, Jim Hines used to play baseball. As a high school student in Michigan, Eddie Tolan won state football titles. There are many more examples that could be given.
In these situations, you can find out which athletes are really good, and the tough competition forces them to improve their skills very quickly. The NCAA champions of yesterday are now among the best athletes in the world. Now it's John Capel, Shawn Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Jeremy Wariner, and Lauryn Williams. There will be new stars in the future, and the model of the National Collegiate Athletic Association will never fail.
It's important to say that athletes from the Caribbean are also good. But keep in mind that many of them went to college in the United States.
One might wonder why American runners aren't as good at running long distances as they are at sprinting. The answer is easy: because they like to do things. They would much rather spend 10 seconds watching a 100-meter race than a half-hour waiting for the end of a 10-kilometer race. They love shows that make people look. And what could be more interesting than running for a short distance? It's not just a part of running or athletics; it's a different kind of sport that shows how far the human body can go. So, they just went and won the world and Olympic sprinting titles and let the others compete in the other events.
