Olympics success linked to

Host China not only presented monumental opening and clos¬ing ceremonies to a global televi¬sion audience, it also outper¬formed all other Asian countries in terms of gold and other medals.

The results apparently show some correlation with the eco¬nomic growth of the leading medalwinning countries.

China has for some years con¬sistently registered the highest growth of any country, despite a slight slowdown recently. Its economy expanded 10.6 per cent and 10.1 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively.

The US economy grew by just 2.5 per cent in the first quarter and 1.8 per cent in the second, dented by the prolonged subprime mortgage crisis.

At the Olympics, China won 51 of the 100 gold medals up for grabs, compared with 36 for the United States.

Actually, the US got the most medals overall, 110, at the Beijing Games - slightly more than the 102 medals it won four years ago in Athens.

The US is the world's largest economy with a gross domestic product - based on purchasingpower parity (PPP) - of US$11.7 billion (Bt400 billion) in 2004.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the size of the US economy on this basis will reach $14.2 billion this year - still the world's largest.

China, ranking second overall in medals in Beijing, registers the world's secondlargest econ¬omy based on PPP.

The IMF estimates the Chinese economy will be $7.8 billion in 2008, up from $4.7 billion in 2004.

The economy measured by PPP takes into account the stan¬dard of living of a country.

The economy of Russia, which came third in Beijing, expanded 8.5 per cent in the first quarter on the back of its huge energy and other natural resources.

Atchana Waiquamdee, the Bank of Thailand's deputy gover¬nor, said prosperity and popula¬tion size play a key role in deter¬mining Olympic success.

Rich countries can invest in sports development, providing the training facilities and encour¬aging good practice for their ath¬letes. Athletes from lowincome countries, however, have to spend the strength of their body to win medals.

So, let's join together to build up wealth in a bid to be top of the game, in the hope that the spirit of sport will help boost the spirit of the soul.

Anoma@nationgroup.com