Clustering of national elite sport policy systems and association with international sporting performance

National governments search for efficient ways to improve their results at international
sporting events such as the Olympic Games. The SPLISS 2.0 project (Sport Policy factors leading to
International Sporting Success) observed a great diversity between the elite sport policy systems of
sixteen nations. The current study built on data from the SPLISS 2.0 project to assess the existence
of groups of similar sport policy systems. Sports performances as well as the size and wealth of
nations were then compared between the groups. Cluster analysis (hierarchical and k-means) and
Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests were applied to answer the research questions. Four groups of sport
policy systems were identified (Leading, Challenging, Emerging and Specific). Population size, GDP
per capita and sport performance in summer sports were significantly different between clusters;
performance in winter sports wasn’t.