The article "Economic lessons from the Olympics" written by Robert Skidelsky, talks about how the Olympics contribute to the economic status of a country- hosting or not. The economy is affected by the amount of money and effort put into the potential medal winners and their training facilities of each country and questioned whether that money should be used for something else or not. It explains the factors that affect the predictability of the outcome of winning countries which are; population, GDP per capita, previous performance, and host status. It compares the money put into winning medals, which is a risk some countries are willing to make because of past results, and putting the country's money toward other things to help build the country. As said in the article; "medals attract money" if this is true, then a country that is successful at the Olympics and that wins medals, gains not only whatever money it's talking about but also respect from the world and more money goes into the funding for Olympic training facilities for high level athletes. The purpose of this article was to compare economy and it's effect on the Olympics and vice versa. Because money is a huge deal today and so are the Olympics, and they go hand in hand the comparison was legitimate in the way that especially since recently people are caring a lot about the economy and the Olympics just happened. They are both big topics and connecting the two makes people aware of the affect they have on each other. Personally I found it fascinating how Olympic success relates to economic success. I think the writer was hoping to spread the idea they had about the connectivity between the economy and the Olympics and how it really is something that affects how our nations function. Many writers like to find the scandals and almost negative content of events, such as the Olympics, and/or celebrities or famous people, the fact that something positive comes out of this article makes me think that the writer wanted people to know that everything that goes on behind the Olympics aren't all bad, the successful teams really do come out successful personally and for their nation.
Intended readers for this article include both Olympic fascinated people and economic interested people. Purposes for reading this article may be to research the affect the Olympics have on the world and it's economy, also it explains how you can predict future medal counts in the up coming Olympics which some people like to do. Age-wise, I would say young adults to regular adults who understand the concept of economy and how different things can affect it. Also we realize the Olympics aren't just about excited sports and very talented people but it has a greater meaning of world unity and the affects it has on our national economy. Readers gain the knowledge of the relation between the 4 year event and how their nation functions and where the money goes that is earned. Also the knowledge of why countries like South Korea end up in the top 6 and what brings countries to be successful in the games. The sources of the article include the Olympic games, and its official website with the results. This source was used to explain the factors that contribute to medal predictability.The context in which this article is shaped depends on the economic factor of the Olympics.
Work Cited:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2012/aug/17/economic-lessons-from-olympics
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