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Originally Posted by mark_chalifoux
The most notable reason is because of the freedoms which some, including myself at times, take for granted in our country. Part of the success of Americans, I think, comes from their confidence, that swagger, that “I am better than you and I’m going to show the world" attitude.
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Nope. Complete and totally wrong, and rendering the rest of the article a string of misapplied tangents.
The reason why America is better than the rest of the world is two-fold.
The first and most important reason is money. Money and infrastructure. That America is the wealthiest nation on the planet already gives it a headstart, and the fact that Bob Costas kindly reminds us every chance he gets of other countries medal winners currently training or having trained in the past at prestigious American universities speaks well of what makes American athletics so dominant.
It is not cheap to send a few hundred athletes to the Olympics. It is not cheap to provide time, money, training, resources, instruction, coaching, world-class facilities and lucrative scholarships to every up-n-coming athlete with a modicum of natural talent. America is one of the few countries wealthy enough to allow its amateur athletes to train full-time while it provides for their needs (Australia is another, and look how good they do). Most other countries have their athletes working regular full-time jobs to support themselves to Olympic glory (Canada being one of them.....well, the Canadian athletes that aren't training in America).
The second reason is more obvious than the first: population. America is the most populated first-world country on earth, and the third most populated country ever. Considering over half of the countries on earth are troubled by more important things like civil wars and crushing poverty, this puts America in a very advantageous position.
Added to this is the fact that America is a country of immigrants. Having such a diverse range of people settled inside its borders gives it the ultimate advantage over any country with a relatively homogenous population base (Kenya, for instance, doesn't have a swimming program. Three guesses why).
So there you go: A country that has the largest, most diverse, educated affluent labour pool in the world to pick from, with the most opulent facilities to train them on, and an almost limitless supply of money to throw at any and all athletics programs......I'm actually surprised America isn't winning EVERYTHING.
So if you want to record, track and count what is the best country of the Games, you have to take into account inflation for population and money. You'd find that the REAL hero of the Games is Australia. A country that small (with a population 1/14 the size of the US) is surprisingly successful at athletics. And they do it without any swagger or machismo.