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European Union At The 2004 Summer Olympics
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The following tables illustrate the comments.


MEDAL COUNTS


At the conclusion of the Athens games, European Union President Romano Prodi commended the work of European athletes at the Games, and stated he believed the Union would compare favourably against frontrunners like the United States if the EU instead competed as a unified team.


ANALYSING THE RESULT OF COMBINING TEAMS


Comparing the EU's aggregate count to that of any single National Olympic Committee (NOC) needs to be done carefully, because athletes and teams qualify for the Olympics on a per-NOC basis (although the category of "Independent Olympic Participants" has been used in the past). Certainly, simulations that might be made in the future would add to the picture. But at the moment, it can be noted that:

  • EU states may "sweep the medals" in men's Handball , while such a result would be impossible if only one pan-EU team participated; similarly, Australia may only qualify three swimmers per event no matter how many in its top-class national training programme meet the Olympic qualifying time standard, while the EU can qualify that number of swimmers ''per country'' per event (theoretically up to 75; realistically perhaps 20 — still therefore offering a better medal chance for the EU state swimmers). This applies more to the overall total of medals than to the gold medals which can in general be obtained only by the best athletes or teams.


  • Conversely, if there only was one EU nation, since each nation can qualify three athletes per event, there would be ''trials'' or other selection mechanisms as operate on the current national level. Therefore only the three best EU athletes would compete, and the final result would be about the same: if the top three spots are now won by three different European nations, they would be won by the same three athletes. (This would not apply to realys or other team events, where only one team is allowed per NOC.) Other reasons are: the EU could put together competitive teams in, for example, Kabaddi where individual states may not; a smaller number of participating athletes, in the hypothesis of a single NOC, is no certainty for many less medals, as there is, as in other fields, a law of decreasing return between the volume of inputs (number of participants) and the volume of outputs (medals obtained); thirdly, the smaller combined team would have access to more resources for training, equipment, diet, facilities and support staff, fourthly athletes form poorer areas might find access to better quality resources.




Complicating factors


The size of the EU is constantly changing, up to 2005 and for the foreseeable future expanding.


Relevance


While the EU has taken on certain national characteristics, there is considerable doubt that the member nations would wish to forego their individual Olympic teams in favour of one EU team. Furthermore, while athletes need to be nominated by a National Olympic Committee, medals are awarded to the athletes, not to their nation. Nonetheless, since the comments by the EU presidency mentioned above, it is likely that some interest will be expressed in the EU (and other supranational organizations) combined medal results in future.


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