How to buy a dozen Olympic gold medals Print E-mail

If he starts now, in four years Branson could give the English a dozen Olympic gold medals



by Charles Poliquin

The Games of the XXX Olympiad will be held in London in 2012, marking the third time that city will have hosted the Games. This year in Beijing, thanks to a great performance in the team pursuit final event in cycling, the English were able to achieve their goal of winning at least 12 Olympic gold medals, the most they have won since they hosted the Games in 1908. But will the birthplace of Mary Poppins, the Beatles and fish and chips be able to drastically increase its gold medal count, as China did in the Beijing Games? It can, if it plans smartly for success and recruits the help of English business tycoon Sir Richard Branson.

I believe without a single doubt that a success story like Branson could enable the English team to win an additional 12 unexpected Olympic medals – and for a very low cost. Having strength-coached Olympic medalists from four different countries in 17 different sports, I have seen what works and what does not, and I know what it takes to produce medals at low cost.

Before getting into the reasons I believe the 236th richest person in the world should even care about the Olympics, let me briefly share my thoughts on how the British could easily double its expected medal count in the London Olympics. How? By simply studying what my fellow Canadians have been doing for the last 20 years and doing the opposite.

Now, seriously, here is the Branson plan.

Mining Gold

Ask yourself, “Why spend money on water polo?” It kills your swimming talent pool for just two possible medals, men’s and women’s. In swimming events, men’s and women’s combined, there are 34 possible medals. One exceptional athlete, Michael Phelps, won eight gold medals. Two gold medals are simply not worth the investment.

Rather than trying to improve performance in all Olympic sports, I would concentrate on the following four sports with weight classes that basically have the same physical requirement needs: wrestling, judo, Tae Kwon Do and weightlifting.

Women’s wrestling and women’s judo are still underdeveloped as sports. England is ethnically diverse, so all weight classes could be covered. Contrast that with China, which, despite having one fifth of the world population, seldom has elite athletes in the heavier classes because its people are relatively small. Contrast that with Sweden and Norway, where people who are just 11 often weigh as much as 48 kilos (105 pounds).

Just look at small countries who have high medals counts and what sports they are winning. The Netherlands and France have had tremendous success in judo, and you could fit five Frances into the province of Quebec! With the right conditions, English judokas can reach into that medal treasure chest.

It’s also possible that a single training facility could accommodate all of England’s elite athletes in these four sports, and other countries have proven this. In this building you need a fighting surface and a great weightroom, both of which are relatively cheap, even for the best quality. And because athletes in the fighting sports lift weights, they can use the same weights that you buy for the lifters. Weightlifters would drive the strength norms up, as the wrestlers and judokas would see firsthand what a good squat consists of and would be inspired by the lifters. Competition is a good thing.

Next, consider that these sports are generally inexpensive to staff. People who coach those sports do it because of the love of the sport, not for the cash. What you absolutely need, however, is great medical staff, nutritionists and a superb cafeteria – but that’s it. The most expensive person you would need to hire would be the medical director, but it would certainly be worth it. In my 30 years as a strength coach I have developed a great networking base and have come across all the right people – all they needed were just better conditions. (It so happens I know just the right guy for the position.)

One factor common to all these sports is that to excel at them you need competitive environments. Athletes need to train with athletes who will push them, and they must have an environment that allows them to compete often. One of the reasons for the success of the Bulgarian weightlifting system is that there would be mock lifting events, especially for the younger athletes, often on a weekly basis. In figure skating clubs in the US, world-renowned clubs such as the Broadmoor have mock competitions at the end of the week, inviting the public to attend and scheduling them as close as possible to actual competitions. In terms of proximity to competition sites, England is just a two-hour flight, max, from a lot of possible locations. You can import a lot of fighters at minimal cost.

Centralization is key – just ask the Aussies. My former boss, Don Talbot, created the Australian Sports Institute. In life you have either results or excuses. When Don was in charge of Canadian swimming, Canada was competitive. You either liked Don or you hated Don; and when those who hated Don got him fired, he left to work with the Australians – and the Aussies have had tremendous success since.

Finally, because England is a small country, athletes could both train hard and periodically go home. Going home is hard to do when you are from Halifax and train in Calgary, or if you are from Brisbane and train in Perth. So, the morale of athletes would be easy to maintain.

Why Branson?

Now the big question: Why would Sir Richard Branson be interested in investing in such an ambitious project for England?

A few answers are that Branson has balls, is generous, loves a challenge and knows how to get things done (often making the impossible possible). He also has marketing savvy, and he has plenty of friends to endorse his program, contribute money and hold benefits to raise money. One of his good friends is Phil Collins. Collins could sponsor one judoka for four years. It also helps that Branson owns Virgin Atlantic Airways. Traveling costs are a major limiting factor to growth in competitive sports, but Branson can fly the sport teams on his own planes.

Supporting his Olympic team is good business. Basically, in the next four years, for every million British pounds invested, Branson could produce a medalist. That is nothing when you look at the return on the investment. And if you choose a Spanish island for your training ground, you can do it even cheaper – and make it more interesting for the poor sun-starved athletes. For $12 million, Branson has 12 medalists to endorse his products and services, which generates more money, which generates more medals for future Olympics.

More than that, he gets the satisfaction of making winners out of 12 unknowns. He will transform 12 athletes into sports heroes, heroes who will motivate kids (and consumers). At the very least he will get the English off their beer-drinking, biscuit-eating asses!

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that he calls this training center the English Power Institute (EPI). The EPI could be used for internships for the staff of his Virgin Active fitness gyms – believe me, they need it. Then they would learn what produces results, instead of wasting their time, as so many American strength coaches do, on circus acts on Swiss balls. The same institute could be used to help African athletes and provide sparring partners for the English – making other people stronger only makes YOU stronger. (And maybe, just maybe, Branson could get English football to learn something and stop being a national shame.)

I chose to use Branson because he has a proven record, but it’s also true that Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien could do the same for Ireland. It’s even easier over there, as Ireland has a huge influx of Slavic immigrants with great athletic talent – the pool of strip-joint bouncers alone would provide enough talent to field a team of Olympic medal throwers. Then again, Bill Gates could do the same with athletes from the right country.

The best thing for the whole Olympic movement would be to have a billionaire’s betting club. If I were Gates, I would pick 20 medals to sponsor and use Nigerian athletes, and then I’d bet O’Brien and Branson. That would be even easier to win than the English or Irish version.

As the talk of Michael Phelps and other champions of the Games dies down, the world’s eyes will be focused on England. National pride will be a daily news press item. I am utterly convinced that Branson, using the plan presented in this article, could produce an extra 12-20 Olympic medalists four years from now. So, Sir Richard, game on?

Craig wrote:I could of taken bolt but I use gear so it would be classed as cheating, in fact thats why I did not take home multiple gold for the country........... stupid drugs

Alex wrote:

Craig wrote:I could of taken bolt but I use gear so it would be classed as cheating, in fact thats why I did not take home multiple gold for the country........... stupid drugs

Correction; you use gear "during" the games and would have got caught in testing. There's a shed load of using going on during the off season you can be sure of. Whenever they talk about it on BBC you watch the faces of Micheal Johnson and Colin Jackson and you can see they know the reality and possibly practiced it themselves.

Craig wrote:It's just a joke bro I could not really take bolt

upright wrote:

Craig wrote:It's just a joke bro I could not really take bolt

I think if KP were stood tying his shoes at the end of the track you'd be first to it!

Alex wrote:

Craig wrote:I could of taken bolt but I use gear so it would be classed as cheating, in fact thats why I did not take home multiple gold for the country........... stupid drugs

Correction; you use gear "during" the games and would have got caught in testing. There's a shed load of using going on during the off season you can be sure of. Whenever they talk about it on BBC you watch the faces of Micheal Johnson and Colin Jackson and you can see they know the reality and possibly practiced it themselves.

Alex wrote:To be fair most Americans are confused by UK, GB, England, Ireland, etc.