Sport Management - Grix, J. and Carmichael, F. (2012), Why do Essay

Sport Management - Grix, J. and Carmichael, F. (2012), Why do governments invest in elite sport A Polemic - Essay Example To do this, Grix & Carmichael (2012) analyse previous literature on the topic to ascertain whether the reasons that are commonly provided for such large investments in elite sport are justified and have been scientifically proven to their standards. In turn, this essay will provide a thorough analysis of the article by using a summary and a strictly defined set of criteria that will show the contribution to knowledge that the article gives and the way that this can be incorporated into further research. Grix and Carmichael (2012) have identified that elite sport has often had a huge amount of investment in many developed democracies, and this investment has not often been questioned or examined. The article suggests that the very reasons for high investment in elite sport, such as increasing participation in non-elite sport, are not often backed by substantial research and therefore the need for such levels of investment needs to be examined. Grix and Carmichael (2012) identify that the reasoning behind funding elite sport is based upon the ‘virtuous cycle of sport’, a term they use to refer to the thought that high levels of achievement in elite sport leads to a feel-good factor for the nation and higher levels of participation. They also argue that it is linked to the double pyramid theory, in that more people participating in sport in general will lead to the generation of more Olympic champions, which will in turn booster morale for the country and so on. The rationale for investing in sport to promote participation seems like a strong argument, particularly as levels of activity are at an all-time low and obesity levels are rising (Carmichael et al, 2012), which in turn gives a higher amount of pressure on the National Health Service. Additionally, Grix and Carmichael (2012) identify the increase of community cohesion for those who participate in sport, but the argument here is that increasing funding