SPAIN DISASTROUS OLYMPICS | LONDON 2012

The London Olympic Games have come to their end. The question that now needs to be answered locally from a SPANISH SPORTS perspective is: how did Spain fair? We have already the official answer from the maximum Directives of the Superior Sports Council ( CSD) & Spanish Olympic Committee President, Miguel Cardinal & Alejandro Blanco respectively: "satisfactory".

So what is satisfactory? Compared to what?
- Past Olympic Games? Barcelona, Athens or Peking?

- Ranking in the World Nations medals table?

- Number of medals overall?

- Number of Gold medals?

all good references criteria which will be used.

How did Spain fair in past Olympics? Athens was 19, Peking was 18 & London has finished with 17 medals. Therefore there is a downward tendency.

Ranking? Spain finished 21^st , with North Korea, Chec Rep, Jamaica, Iran, New Zealand & Cuba all respectively above. All countries with smaller scale economies & which devote far less investment into their Sport.

Number of Gold medals? The all-time historical benchmark is Barcelona 1992 where Spain managed 13 Gold Medals. In Pekin 2008 Spain managed 5 & in London Spain has managed 3 Gold Medals. These figures indicate an obvious downward tendency with this measuring metric. However let’s asks a deeper & more insightful question: in which Sports did Spain managed to get Gold in London? The answer is revealing as they are minority “Sports”, two in Yachting & one in Taekwondo.

With these facts I would have to disagree with the official version of a "satisfactory" Spain performance in these London Olympics Games & say that the final results are alarming not to say disastrous. 

Spain medal winners

Spain invests millions of euros yearly on Sports, infrastructure, staff, scholarships & on young promises. Two things must have happened,  or investment has been cut drastically over the years & against what we have been lead to believe,  or the people responsible for our Sports are doing a very bad job. I would say both are true.

What has sadly caught my attention is how second & more so third placed winners have been hailed by the local media as national heroes. Firstly, no one will remember in history second or third place, plus no one invests large sums of tax payers money for silver, bronze or Olympic diplomas. Secondly, the lack of gold ( only 3 ) has put into operation the propaganda machine with the media on-board to cover up the lack of success & justify ( or protect ) the jobs of some of those who should claim responsibility,  & thus mask their incompetence.

Spain traditionally is strong in Athletics with a historical tradition in the mid distances, walks & marathon, areas they have failed dismally. Team Sports like Handball, Waterpolo, Hockey & Football-Soccer were real disasters. We can add others like Cycling, Equestrian, Shooting, Tennis, Volleyball …etc.

The facts don’t stand up to a “satisfactory” London Performance, neither via a historical comparative & neither with the final London results. The true result is that the London Olympic Games for Spain is/was disastrous, alarming & with serious urgent need of a future organizational & directive change with clearer objectives & ideas. Will this occur? I doubt it. Spain is a Gold Medal in maintaining their incompetent directives in charge of institutions & in their positions with privileges. 

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