Cost-efficient sports

Now that the Asian Games  is over, it’s worth looking at which sports are the most cost-efficient in bringing about the best chances of winning gold medals in international competitions. After all, most of the sports that won medals were those that were not given much attention. For this, we will be strictly using cost as the measure. In other words, what is the most inexpensive way to prepare an athlete, and in which sports may an athlete win the most number of medals? For this, we will include only sports that are or have been in multi-sport competitions, giving latitude to the host country’s preference, such as the Philippines for the 2019 SEA Games. Naturally, this will eliminate team sports with no individual events. Also, we factor in travel cost, giving an advantage to the sports whose equipment, if any, can fit in the athlete’s hand-carry or at worst, regular luggage. The list will be in ascending order, and may inadvertently omit certain sports. So, in which sports may an athlete win the most number of medals in a single competition like the Olympics, Asian Games or SEA Games?

Contact sports, weightlifting. As mentioned in Saturday’s column, the best thing about weightlifting is that you don’t have to bring the weights with you. The organizers prepare the equipment that all competitors use. The same holds true for boxing, karate, judo, taekwondo, wushu and so on. You really only need your uniform and whatever special dietary needs you may have. All other things being equal, you just have to hop onto a plane and join a competition. Generally, though, athletes in these sports would only bring home one medal. It is very rare that athletes skilled in forms (kata or anyo in karate and arnis, respectively), would simultaneously compete in actual sparring. Injury in the latter would prevent you from continuing in the former.

We may also add dancesport with an asterisk here, since athletes compete in pairs and can win two gold medals (one cumulative gold each for the traditional five Latin and five Standard categories). The only exception was the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, when organizers decided to give one gold medal per dance, or a total of 10. Bodybuilding may or may not fall into this category, since there are category winners according to height who then compete with one another for an overall championship.

Golf, bowling, petanque, lawn bowls, archery, shooting, fencing. Each of these sports has individual and team events. Therefore, it is possible for an athlete to win two to three gold medals, depending on the number of team or mixed team events. Shooting (rifle, pistol or shotgun) has up to five medals staked per category, but you generally don’t enter that many events, particularly in shotgun, which is very physically demanding. Equipment for most of these sports constitute regular baggage or an extra bag, at most.

Arnis and billiards. This is a bit of a gray area, because it leaves a lot to the discretion of the organizer. The forms (anyo) competitions can have several categories which may be individual, team (trio), solo baston (single stick), doble baston (two sticks). In other words, there is no universal procedure, and is usually influenced by time and economics. In sparring, one could win individual and overall medals. And like billiards, you can hand carry your equipment.

For its part, billiards has had multiple derivatives develop in the last 15 years. There’s rotation, eight ball, nine ball, ten ball, carom, snooker, to name the more common ones played in the Philippines. An event organizer could assign individual, pairs and team events for each. The only limit would be an athlete’s fatigue.

Athletics. Before Michael Phelps, swimmer Mark Spitz jointly held the record of nine gold medals with Carl Lewis. Lewis competed in the sprints and long jump. In 1936, Jesse Owens proved that a runner could win four gold medals or more. Owens won the golds in the 100-meter, 200-meter, long jump and the 4x100-meter events, the last of which he was not originally slated to compete in. If he had competed in the 4x200-meter relay, he likely would have won a fifth gold.

There are, of course, exceptional athletes. In 1912, American Indian Jim Thorpe competed in the Olympic decathlon and pentathlon, winning both gold medals. That’s 15 events. The best decathlete would be in the top five in the world in each discipline, probably the world’s best in three of the running, jumping or throwing events. Assuming he could top the field in at least half of them (he would four of five in the pentathlon), Thorpe could have won seven or eight golds in one Olympics. 

Swimming. In 2008 in Beijing, Michael Phelps won eight Olympic gold medals, more than many countries. Phelps swept all the events he was entered in, and went on to win a total of 23 golds, three silvers and two bronzes in Olympic competition. 

All for little more than a plane ticket and board and lodging. No equipment, no extra baggage. Now, that’s cost-efficiency at its best.