Take Malawi for example. It is an incredibly poor country in south eastern Africa. Its population is now over twenty million. It has sent competitors to eleven different Olympic Games and has not won a single medal in all that time.
This year Malawi has sent just three competitors to Paris. At the swimming pool, Filipe Gomes has already been knocked out of the men's 50 metre freestyle event. Tayamika Chang'anamuno will feature in the heats of the women's 50 metre freestyle which happen tomorrow August 4th. She is not expected to advance.
The only other Malawian competitor will be Asimenye Simwaka who will no doubt try her best on the athletics track in the women's 100 metres. Again her chances of a medal are almost zero.
I have little doubt that if Malawi had great sporting facilities, coaches and funding it would have won several medals over the years but could the country possibly justify such spending? Healthcare, education and infrastructure improvement matter more than Olympic medals. Also there are mouths to feed.
Malawi is just one of sixty five countries that have never won a single medal in the Summer Olympics. That list also includes Angola, Bangladesh, Mali, The Democratic Congo Republic, Papua New Guinea and Honduras.
So when Olympians say,“Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together” do they really mean it or is it just a hollow marketing slogan? Perhaps Malawi supports the notion contained in George Orwell's "Animal Farm" that "all animals are equal but some are more equal than others".
Best of luck to Tayamika Chang'anamuno and Asimenye Simwaka!
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/pdDGFeC