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Number of results
2012 | 4 | 38-44

Article title

Social and political factors affecting sporting success in small countries: The case of Cyprus

Content

Title variants

Languages of publication

EN

Abstracts

EN
Study aim: To examine the major social, cultural, and political factors determining sporting successes in very small countries at macro, meso, and micro levels through the example of Cyprus.Material and methods: The article is based partly on the analysis of statistics and documents and partly on a segment of a comprehensive investigation carried out by standardized questionnaire and in-depth interviews among all Cypriot Olympians participating in the summer Olympic Games (N=93). The response rate was 79.6%. Regarding some major characteristics (age, gender, sport) the researched population fairly represents the total population.Results: Little investment has been made in building sports facilities, the training of coaches, the support for sport science, and in the development of sport medicine. Elite sport has been reluctantly promoted by sport policy. Elite athletes had limited competition opportunities. Cypriot children with lower socioeconomic backgrounds and from villages had higher chances for becoming top-level athletes. Young girls hardly had any access to competitive sport.Conclusions: Based on the analysis of documents it can be stated that not only the smallness of the country and the small number of the population but also the poor sporting tradition and culture as well as inconsistent sport policy also contribute to the Cypriot elite athletes' sporting results. From the findings by questionnaire it might be concluded that the Cypriot children had no equal chances to become top athletes.

Publisher

Year

Volume

4

Pages

38-44

Physical description

Dates

published
1 - 1 - 2012
online
30 - 6 - 2012

Contributors

  • Department of Social Sciences, Semmelweis University Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

References

  • Bray M. (1992) Educational planning in small countries. UNESCO, Paris.
  • De Bosscher V., P.De Knop, M.van Bottenburg, S. Shibli (2006) A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Sports Policy Factors Leading to Intemational Sporting Success. Eur. Sport Manag. Q., 6(2):185-215.
  • De Bosscher V. (2007). Sport Policy factors Leading to Intemational Sporting Success. VUBPress; Brussel.
  • Foldesi S.G. (2004) Social status and mobility of Hungarian elite athletes. Int. J. Hist. Sport, 21(5):710-726.[Crossref]
  • Foldesi S.G. (1994) Hungarian Olympians about the Society they lived in. The 100 Year History of Olympism in the Mirror of Science Hungarian Olympic Academy, Budapest, pp. 108-118.
  • Gupta S.K. (1987) Parents' and teachers' attitudes and reactions toward participation in sports by young athletes of a university in an Indian state. Int. Rev. Sociol. Sport, 22:305-313.[Crossref]
  • Houlihan B. (1997) Sport, Policy and Politics: A Comparative Analysis. Routledge, London.
  • Rózsaligeti L. (2009) Hungarian Olympic lexicon 1896-2008 (in Hungarian) Corvina Kiadó Kft. Budapest.
  • Sohi A.S., K.B. Yusuff (1987) The socioeconomic status of Elite Nigerian athletes in perspective of social stratification and mobility. Int. Rev. Sociol. Sport, 22 (4):295-302.[Crossref]
  • Shippi P. (2010) Athletes-Coaches Relationship. The case of Cypriot elite athletes. Magyar Sporttudomanyi Szemle, 4:8-12.
  • Spaaij R. (2009) Sport as a vehicle for social mobility and regulation of disadvantaged urban youth. Int. Rev. Sociol. Sport, 44 (2-3):247-264.[WoS][Crossref]
  • Hudson C., B.Maxine (2005) UK National Governing Bodies Self Assessment Survey. The Equality Standard. A Framework for Sport.
  • Humphreys B.R., K.Maresova, J.E. Ruseski (2010) National sport policy, sporting success and individual sport participation: an international comparison.
  • Houlihan B., M.Green (2008) Comparative Elite Sport Development: Systems, Structures and Public Policy. Elsevier Ldt., Oxford.
  • Stamm H., M.Lamprecht (2001) Sydney 2000, the best games ever? World Sport and Relationships of Structural Dependency. 1st World Congress of the Sociology of Sport. Seoul, Korea. http://www.lssfb.ch/download/ISSA_Seoul.pdf.
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Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.-psjd-doi-10_2478_v10101-012-0007-z
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