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Can Bangladesh capture Olympic medal in London?

Monday, 23 July 2012 18:00
Page 1 of 2
BY MATTHEW FARRELL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Bangladesh, a physically small, but densely populated, country just east of India and west of Myanmar, has never won a single medal in the Olympic games. Ranked eighth in the world with a population of more than 160 million people, according to the C.I.A. World Fact Book. It is the most populated country in the world never to come in first, second or third place in any Olympic event.

It is not the only heavily populated country never to have graced the podium. Its neighbor Myanmar, ranked 24th with about 54.6 million people, and Nepal, ranked 41st with about 30 million people, have also never medaled, according to Yahoo Sports.

It is usually thought that having a large population with a large pool of athletes to compete, tends to allow a country (or town in the case of many school sports) to excel in athletic competition, but Bangladesh has not benefited from its amount of people. And, contrary to conventional wisdom, countries much smaller have done better at the Olympics.

The Bahamas, ranked 178th in population with about 316 thousand people have won four gold medals out of 10 overall. Iceland (179th with 313 thousand people) has won silver and gold, twice each. Tonga (192nd with 106 thousand people) and Barbados (180th with 288 thousand people) have won a gold and silver medal respectively.

So what is it that makes populated countries like Bangladesh falter in international competition, while the Caribbean Islands like the Bahamas and Barbados flourish?

One might point to the fact that the main sport of Bangladesh is cricket, which is not an Olympic sport. In top-level International Cricket Counsel competition though, Bangladesh is ranked ninth out of nine. There too the country is outmatched by the West Indies.

What might explain Bangladesh's situation better is money. The people of Bangladesh are very poor. The International Monetary Fund ranks the country 155th in terms of GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita. Myanmar and Nepal, the other populous Olympic shutouts are also homes to very poor people. They rank 163rd and 162nd respectively.


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Comments (2)
it's resources
2 Tuesday, 24 July 2012 07:24
fhuda
Bangladesh has never won anything in the Olympics because the resources are barely adequate for people in the country to survive. You really think the Olympic is the priority??!
Reply
Poor diet
1 Tuesday, 24 July 2012 04:53
Saad
Bangladesh is a very poor country where the people hardly get to consume any significant quantities of meat and milk. Most Bangladeshis are physically small and underweight. And the cities are heavily polluted which means that city people lack the lung capacity and endurance to compete successfully at international level. And the Bangladeshi diet isn't exactly the most conducive towards producing great athletes (lots of friend stuff, low-grade cooking oil, lots of spices). A lot has to change in Bangladesh before Bangladeshis can realistically become a regular competitor at international level in Olympic sports.
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