RIO DE JANIERO, BRAZIL (NEWS 1130) – It’s day two of the Rio Games and Canada already has a medal. The women’s 4 x 100 swimming relay team captured bronze in last night’s action.
But winning isn’t everything according to UBC Sociology Professor Francesco Duina. He says the number of wins and losses doesn’t tell the whole story. “In many ways, it should be a sign also of things one wants to think through. In any event, both winning and losing are focused on outcomes and not necessarily the process itself.”
He explains medal count is an indicator of how well a country does, but when it comes to Canada people should keep populations in mind because size does matter. “We should always remember that population matters a great deal. If we were to adjust that count we could pay a lot more attention to per capita.”
Duina says the economic strength of a country should also be factored into how we evaluate success because poorer countries are able to compete with the best in the world too. “The need to win is not only a thing that is typical for Canada.”
He adds the onus on winning can have a big impact on athletes. “There are all sorts of pressures. There are physical and psychological pressures, there are plenty of tests that show levels of hormones and other things go up for a long time after the competition is over.”
A special message from #TeamCanada‘s first #Rio2016 medallists… pic.twitter.com/TnJlnujXrL
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) August 7, 2016
The Games wrap up on August 21st.