The economic crisis hitting Europe's most troubled nations hasn't spared their Olympic performance.
Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are likely to leave London with fewer medals than in 2008 and face dimmer prospects as funding cuts bite hard on the road to 2016.
The four countries that have been recipients of high-profile international bailouts collected a total of 27 medals, and six gold medals in Beijing.
Heading into the final two days of competition in London, they so far have 18 total medals and three gold. Italy, which hasn't received a bailout but is similarly troubled, had 27 total and 8 gold in Beijing compared with 20 total and seven gold here so far.
The road will get more difficult. As governments cut sports budgets, they are expected to compete in fewer sports and focus funding on elite athletes in the sports that remain.
Private money will get harder to raise as economies sour further. "It's going to be very difficult to stay at the level we're at now," said Spyros Capralos, president of Greece's Hellenic Olympic Committee.
Greece has won half of its four-medal tally of 2008. "When a country does not have enough to pay for salaries, pensions, drugs and hospitals, it is normal that funding for sports has go come down." Athletes and coaches don't want to use money as an explanation for failure.
"No money is no excuse," said Raphael Aguilar Morillo, Spain's water-polo coach, after his team defeated Greece last week. Spain beat the U.S on Friday.
But everyone sees and fears the coming funding squeeze. Jose Gonzalez Bonilla, a top Spanish taekwondo fighter, said the looming cuts added pressure on him to do well at the Olympics to help justify the expenses of the country's sport programs in general, and taekwondo in particular.
"If I don't get a medal, I'll be worried about funds," he said this week. Hours later, he delivered a message with his feet, demolishing a South Korean fighter for an Olympic gold medal. Experts who study elite sports say there's a direct correlation between funding and Olympic success.
"If you don't have the right support for athletes, including the financial support they need and all of the other human support —whether it is nutrition or psychology—they're not going to do well," says Janice Forsyth, Director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario.
Greece, the first host of the modern Olympics, was the first European country to slash sports programs because of overall economic troubles.
The Greek National Olympic Committee expected about €30 million from the government for the 2008-2012 cycle; instead, the government cut funds after the initial €8 million payment.
The Greek national Olympic committee turned to private fundraising, but only filled some of the gap. The country sent 102 athletes to London, about 50 fewer than it sent to Beijing, thanks largely to two big teams -- men's basketball and women's water polo -- failing to qualify.
Athletes also have less money to prepare, "fewer coaches, fewer doctors," Capralos says, creating a huge disadvantage in a world that spends lavishly on coaching, technology, nutrition and psychology.
"Many thought we would get no medals," he says, so given the outcome so far, he's happy with the Greek team's performance.
In Portugal, the government and Olympic committee in 2009 agreed to an Olympic funding plan for 2012 that included €14.6 million for training athletes and €560,000 for the Olympics mission (15% of the mission budget comes from private sources).
When the country fell into crisis last year, the government kept its commitment to the Olympic budget.
Fernando Manuel Serrador Fonseca da Mota, head of the Portuguese Athletic Federation, said austerity measures are hitting athletes not yet at the Olympic level, preventing them from devoting 100% of their time to sports.
Payments to coaches have been cut and neighborhood associations have less money to spend on local sports programs. When Nuno Mendes and Pedro Fraga of Portugal placed fifth in the men's rowing double sculls last week, they used their moment of fame to urge more support for sports.
Their coach, Markus Emke, hasn't been paid by the Portuguese rowing federation since October last year. "It isn't money that makes me do this. It is the fun and the desire to make champions," Emke told Portuguese state agency Lusa. "But I do want to get paid."
Austerity programs in Europe present local politicians with an unenviable dilemma. After all, national pride is at stake in the Olympics.
"If they cut sports funding and national teams perform poorly at subsequent Olympics, they will attract the ire of their constituencies and lose the political capital that comes with the 'feel good factor' of winning," says Jules Boykoff, a professor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., who studies the intersection between politics and sports.
If politicians ring-fence sports funding, they may be accused of waste and misguided priorities, he says.
No group feels the pinch more than the athletes themselves. "It's a difficult moment for Italy," said Italian water polo player Giulia Enrica Emmolo, her hair still dripping after beating Team GB this week.
"We're all making lots of sacrifices... the country is more important" than athletic programs. So far, Italian water polo has been spared the ax. Emmolo said that is largely because the team won an Olympic gold medal in 2004, guaranteeing it a steady stream of cash. This year, they came in seventh.
wsj.com
Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are likely to leave London with fewer medals than in 2008 and face dimmer prospects as funding cuts bite hard on the road to 2016.
The four countries that have been recipients of high-profile international bailouts collected a total of 27 medals, and six gold medals in Beijing.
Heading into the final two days of competition in London, they so far have 18 total medals and three gold. Italy, which hasn't received a bailout but is similarly troubled, had 27 total and 8 gold in Beijing compared with 20 total and seven gold here so far.
The road will get more difficult. As governments cut sports budgets, they are expected to compete in fewer sports and focus funding on elite athletes in the sports that remain.
Private money will get harder to raise as economies sour further. "It's going to be very difficult to stay at the level we're at now," said Spyros Capralos, president of Greece's Hellenic Olympic Committee.
Greece has won half of its four-medal tally of 2008. "When a country does not have enough to pay for salaries, pensions, drugs and hospitals, it is normal that funding for sports has go come down." Athletes and coaches don't want to use money as an explanation for failure.
"No money is no excuse," said Raphael Aguilar Morillo, Spain's water-polo coach, after his team defeated Greece last week. Spain beat the U.S on Friday.
But everyone sees and fears the coming funding squeeze. Jose Gonzalez Bonilla, a top Spanish taekwondo fighter, said the looming cuts added pressure on him to do well at the Olympics to help justify the expenses of the country's sport programs in general, and taekwondo in particular.
"If I don't get a medal, I'll be worried about funds," he said this week. Hours later, he delivered a message with his feet, demolishing a South Korean fighter for an Olympic gold medal. Experts who study elite sports say there's a direct correlation between funding and Olympic success.
"If you don't have the right support for athletes, including the financial support they need and all of the other human support —whether it is nutrition or psychology—they're not going to do well," says Janice Forsyth, Director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario.
Greece, the first host of the modern Olympics, was the first European country to slash sports programs because of overall economic troubles.
The Greek National Olympic Committee expected about €30 million from the government for the 2008-2012 cycle; instead, the government cut funds after the initial €8 million payment.
The Greek national Olympic committee turned to private fundraising, but only filled some of the gap. The country sent 102 athletes to London, about 50 fewer than it sent to Beijing, thanks largely to two big teams -- men's basketball and women's water polo -- failing to qualify.
Athletes also have less money to prepare, "fewer coaches, fewer doctors," Capralos says, creating a huge disadvantage in a world that spends lavishly on coaching, technology, nutrition and psychology.
"Many thought we would get no medals," he says, so given the outcome so far, he's happy with the Greek team's performance.
In Portugal, the government and Olympic committee in 2009 agreed to an Olympic funding plan for 2012 that included €14.6 million for training athletes and €560,000 for the Olympics mission (15% of the mission budget comes from private sources).
When the country fell into crisis last year, the government kept its commitment to the Olympic budget.
Fernando Manuel Serrador Fonseca da Mota, head of the Portuguese Athletic Federation, said austerity measures are hitting athletes not yet at the Olympic level, preventing them from devoting 100% of their time to sports.
Payments to coaches have been cut and neighborhood associations have less money to spend on local sports programs. When Nuno Mendes and Pedro Fraga of Portugal placed fifth in the men's rowing double sculls last week, they used their moment of fame to urge more support for sports.
Their coach, Markus Emke, hasn't been paid by the Portuguese rowing federation since October last year. "It isn't money that makes me do this. It is the fun and the desire to make champions," Emke told Portuguese state agency Lusa. "But I do want to get paid."
Austerity programs in Europe present local politicians with an unenviable dilemma. After all, national pride is at stake in the Olympics.
"If they cut sports funding and national teams perform poorly at subsequent Olympics, they will attract the ire of their constituencies and lose the political capital that comes with the 'feel good factor' of winning," says Jules Boykoff, a professor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., who studies the intersection between politics and sports.
If politicians ring-fence sports funding, they may be accused of waste and misguided priorities, he says.
No group feels the pinch more than the athletes themselves. "It's a difficult moment for Italy," said Italian water polo player Giulia Enrica Emmolo, her hair still dripping after beating Team GB this week.
"We're all making lots of sacrifices... the country is more important" than athletic programs. So far, Italian water polo has been spared the ax. Emmolo said that is largely because the team won an Olympic gold medal in 2004, guaranteeing it a steady stream of cash. This year, they came in seventh.
wsj.com
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