Sport, a tool for improving societies

Just review the Top Ten of the Tokyo 2020 medal table: the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Russia (the Russian Olympic Committee in its version of a nation sanctioned for doping issues), Australia, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy. We could expand a little further: Canada (11th), Brazil (12th) and South Korea (16th). All these countries are part of one of the elites of global geopolitical power. All of these countries succeed in high performance, but they sow long before the real athlete is finished.

Each in their own way, with different logics but similar effectiveness, they understand that sport is not only a tool for international positioning —almost a bloodless and playful battle on the map of countries-, but also a space to care for, finance and promote in the recreational field.

Whether through sports training schools, development programs for children of educational age, encouraging private investment or, directly, through support with State resources, these nations and a few others —not just those of the so-called First World— understand the value of sports beyond podiums, medals or world titles.

There is no coincidence or mere coincidence that the countries most powerful in Olympism are, at the same time, those that participate in the most important business and decisions on the planet. Nor is it a question of simplifying everything and concluding that, since they are societies with enormous economic power, you have enough money to form champions: not all the powerful do so well in sports; several of the developing or underdeveloped nations have sporting power well above the life standards of their society.

Clearly, investment helps. But it’s not everything. Do we think that, just by allocating millions, we are going to give birth to a Usain Bolt, a Nadia Comaneci or a Tony Estanguet? Just look at how much money countries such as China or the United States contribute to world football in various formats — from creating leagues to buying clubs from major tournaments — and how far they are still from the top of the pyramid. Any examples you can think of will be valid. I simply contribute the first thing that comes to mind.

On the other side, the success in certain disciplines that Kenya, Ethiopia, Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina and so many others exhibit shows that talent and genetics put at the service of sports transcend the economic power and even the structural skill of their governments.

Without going too deep in each case, it is worth noting that Russia or China’s view of sport is not too similar to that of the United States or the United Kingdom. However, they and many others agree to promote sports at different levels, including some that are far from appearing in the newspapers or shining on television screens.

These very diverse models are not based exclusively on the amount of dollars or euros available, but they also have, fundamentally, policies that contain the phenomenon and provide a horizon towards which to direct the ship. Sadly, this is something that is a pending issue in most of the flags that make up the Olympic universe. In so many cases, the difference between triumph and defeat includes precisely the absence of serious structures and makes it clear that the events are much more the consequence of isolated private ventures, decisive contributions from clubs or private schools, or the appearance of sporadic phenomena with no possible legacy than of the relationship with governmental structures that accompany them.

The fact that things don’t happen for just one reason is something we’ve already talked about. However, on the subject in question, I understand that few things influence more than recognition -or ignorance- of what sport is really for.

There is, decidedly, an understatement in this regard. Even in countries that most resemble a model to follow, athletic activity is considered to be fundamentally linked to muscle, perspiration, effort, dedication, plasticity or strength. It is rarely assumed that sport is also an extraordinary intellectual exercise.

If we accept that almost everything human beings do has a neurological connotation, why not consider the possibility that the same circuit that inspired a Van Gogh brushstroke or an Elton John melody doesn’t travel the same highway as a Federer drop shot or a Simone Biles floor routine?

You and I can attest to how much better we think, the more creative energy we have when we get out of the shower after our routine at the gym. Why not allow ourselves the possibility that, for our children, it will be easier for them to study geography or understand algebra thanks to the oxygen and endorphins that grow after a physical education class or a basketball game?

Whether they are inhabitants of super powerful countries or nations severely punished by poverty, risk or corruption, we deserve the benefit of the doubt and discuss whether sports would not be a tool to combat violence, discrimination, hunger, addictions, sedentary lifestyle, obesity or insecurity. Each of the miseries that we may encounter on our way can find an extenuating factor in physical activity and in each of the sports. The one we like the most. Whatever we can think of.

And, who knows, until we have the pleasure of discovering that, in the end, we are not so bad at practicing them.