According to statistics from the US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), at the recently concluded 2024 Olympics, there were a total of 1,217 athletes who are current or former members of the NCAA representing the American sports delegation and many other countries. 219 of them won medals .
More specific statistics, students and alumni of Stanford University won a total of 39 medals, including 12 gold, 14 silver, 13 bronze. That is equal to the Italian and German teams in terms of number of Gold Medals but ranked higher thanks to more Silver Medals and entering the Top 10 overall medal table.
Not only the student athletes, there are also athletes as young as 13-14 years old competing at the Summer Olympics - and winning medals, like Japan's Coco Yoshizawa in skateboarding.
This is another proof that the success of a sports system is contributed significantly by school sports. Attention and focus on developing school sports - from the roots of elementary school, middle school and then developing to high school and university. It is not difficult to see how important sports are in schools in countries with strong sports backgrounds.
Students are developed comprehensively, both culturally and physically, while in Vietnam's current situation, placing emphasis on education puts pressure on students, to the point of not having time to… breathe, let alone play sports.
Of course, there are many other factors at play - such as the majority of students themselves lacking initiative, self-discipline, being too dependent or being pampered to the extent that they do not care about training. However, looking more broadly, it is still the achievement problem that ultimately drags everything down.
Not paying attention and taking seriously the issue of school sports - currently there is but it cannot be called enough, the educational element itself will become distorted, so there is nothing to say about whether or not it contributes to achievements. for the country's sports industry in top arenas.
