The Olympics are an elitist institution

It’s no secret that U.S. athletes dominate the summer Olympics. Just this year during the Rio Olympics, the U.S. won 121 medals and had 558 athletes compete — a stark contrast to a country like Portugal, which entered 92 athletes and won only one bronze medal and Somalia, which only entered two athletes.

Frankly speaking, the Olympics are and always have been a selective institution for the privileged that are able to afford dedicating their lives to their sport. Few countries, aside from China and Russia, have the resources to challenge the medal count of the elite group of first-world countries, which includes the U.S., Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

Take gymnastics, for example, where the athletes begin their training at about age 5. For 10 plus years, the athletes must train rigorously with some of the best coaches in the world and with top-notch gear. Professional athletes tend to come from upper or upper-middle class backgrounds, accompanied by a certain degree of financial freedom.

Another example: The costs of professional shooting average from around $700,000 to $1.5 million a year. Even swimming averages above $100,000 per year — in addition to club fees, training sessions and traveling costs, elite swimmers constantly need to purchase new uniforms, which average $500 apiece for only six wears.

In most other countries, many families would rather have their children continue their education or find a job rather than pursue a sport that may not amount to anything.

However, in the U.S., pursuing athletics is encouraged. Being one of the only countries with collegiate-level athletics and multi-million dollar university facilities, in America athletes can more easily make the jump to professional.

On the other hand, the prime interests of colleges in other areas of the world are solely education-based while in many other countries, education is not easily available. For instance, in England, sports programs available are usually intramural-level and only meet up once or twice a week.

For all of these reasons, American athletes have a significant advantage in the Olympics.

The class distinctions present in the Olympics will not disappear. In fact, the gap may become more prominent in the future.

Rather than attempt a fruitless fight against inequality, we should recognize the inevitable elitism that represented at the Olympics, and simply not place it on such a high pedestal.