The Spirit Of 1992: Spain at the Olympics

Great Britain and Northern Ireland's failure to put numbers into the medals table during the first days of the Olympics suggested that the achievements of Beijing might have been exceptional. Then the medals started to flow. Beijing had not been a one-off.

Team GB is meeting the expectations of a nation in much the same way as a previous host nation's athletes fulfilled the hopes of a people. In fact, Spain's achievements in 1992 in Barcelona exceeded these expectations. Spain won 22 medals, 13 of them gold. It was its best ever medal haul. Prior to 1992, Spain had won only five golds at the 15 Olympic Games in which it had participated. Though Spain hasn't performed badly since 1992, it has come nowhere near capturing the same number of golds. And in London, as of yesterday morning, it had managed not a single gold and only three medals in all.

Spain's performance may improve but its hoped-for tally was not helped by Nadal's withdrawal or by the failure of the men's football team to qualify from the first round of matches. The shock of a national side that has won so much in other competitions missing out brought back bad memories - of a team that always underachieved, yet which first showed it could be champions by winning gold in Barcelona, a side blessed by players such as Pep Guardiola. 

But why is Spain doing as poorly as it is? In numerical terms, it has the ninth largest team at the London Olympics. Sheer size doesn't automatically mean success - on this basis, Team GB, which has more athletes than any other nation, should be heading the medals table - but it does help, as it did in 1992 when Spain had the second largest contingent behind the USA.

Expectations of Spanish Olympic success were skewed dramatically by what happened in 1992. In addition to the investment that went in to transforming Barcelona, it was recognised that a nation with little success at previous Olympics had to do something in order to create pride in the athletes as well as in the facilities.

Prior to 1992, there had been no coherent training schemes for Spanish athletes. This was to all change, aided by huge sponsorship co-ordinated through the state television company TVE, which was able to bring in the best coaches from across the world. Though funding was continued and still does through the national Higher Sports Council, Spain's Olympians and their coaches have received only 50 million euros of funding over the past four years; the final calculation for Team GB's efforts in Beijing was put at 235 million pounds of Lottery funding.

Barcelona, though there was real funding for the first time, was a freak. Spain took four sailing golds in 1992, partly because the seas were familiar. Wins, such as that in the decathlon, were simply unexpected. Who now remembers Spain's tennis silver medallist, Jordi Arrese? Home advantage and home crowds and their passion counted for much, and the success in Barcelona is unlikely to ever be repeated, unless perhaps Madrid finally succeeds in its Olympic bid and gets the 2020 Games.

But funding for athletes would have to be totally reconsidered. Team GB is a perfect example of how co-ordinated and consistent funding can pay off. If Madrid is selected for 2020 and if Spain wants once more to rank among the elite of Olympic sports, then this reconsideration should be happening now.

Before the London Games, a group of statisticians, gathered from the Higher Sports Council and the banking, consulting and academic worlds, estimated that Spain would not win more than 19 medals (which would be one more than in Beijing). The athletes will need to go some to meet this. The head of elite development at the HSC has admitted that economic crisis has meant lower funding, and with Spain showing no signs of ridding itself of this crisis, it is difficult to see where the necessary funding would come from. Indeed, it is difficult to know where the funding would come from to stage the Games in Madrid.

It would be simple to say that the 2020 bid should be abandoned. Common sense would suggest that it should be, but common sense can go out the window when presented with the possibility of great events and of the achievements of home athletes. The London Olympics are proving the point.

We should hope that Spain was doing better. By extension to Mallorca, a Spain which achieves at the Olympics raises the profile of sport and therefore to the hope for sports tourism. Spanish Olympic sport needs to rediscover the joy and spirit of 1992, but can it?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.