The link between financing of sports from the Croatian olympic committee's programmes and the international success of Croatian athletes

Uvod: Dosadašnja istraživanja na temu financiranja sporta pokazuju da sve veći broj vlada i nacionalnih sportskih organizacija širom svijeta troše sve veće iznose novca u potrazi za međunarodnim uspjehom svojih država. U posljednja dva desetljeća sve je više istraživanja koja pokušavaju dati odgovor na pitanje zašto su neke zemlje uspješnije na međunarodnim sportskim natjecanjima od drugih zemalja te na koji način državna i sportska politika svojim odlukama (primarno kroz odlučivanje o tome koliko će sredstava izdvojiti za sport i u što će ih uložiti) može donijeti komparativnu prednost sportašima jedne zemlje u odnosu na sportaše iz drugih zemalja. Do sada provedena istraživanja pokazala su da postoji snažna pozitivna veza između iznosa uloženih državnih sredstava u vrhunski sport i sportskog uspjeha sportaša pojedine države. No isto tako, istraživanja su pokazala da ne postoji gotov nacrt za sportski uspjeh. Svaka zemlja treba naći specifična ključna područja koja djeluju efikasno u danom kontekstu - novac je preduvjet, ali ne i jamstvo uspjeha, a raspodjela sportskog proračuna jednako je važna kao i njegova veličina. U Republici Hrvatskoj (RH) se financiranje sporta iz državnog proračuna provodi kroz „Program javnih potreba sporta državne razine“, a koji se najvećim djelom odnosi na djelovanje Hrvatskog olimpijskog odbora (HOO) i nacionalnih sportskih saveza (NSS) - poticanje i promicanje sporta, razvoj sporta, skrb o vrhunskim sportašima, organizacija priprema i nastupa hrvatskih sportaša na olimpijskim igrama (OI), svjetskim i europskim prvenstvima (SP i EP) i dr. Cilj: Primarni cilj ovoga istraživanja bio je utvrditi povezanost između financijske potpore programa HOO-a i međunarodnog uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša u razdoblju od 2001. do 2016. godine tj. ispitati kako je HOO u suglasju s NSS-ima provodio raspodjelu sportskog proračuna, u koje sportske programe i koje sportove je najviše ulagao i kakav je bio njihov utjecaj na ostvareni međunarodni uspjeh hrvatskih sportaša. Imajući u vidu primarni cilj istraživanja, postavljene su tri hipoteze: H1 - Postoji povezanost između financijske potpore HOO-a i ostvarenog međunarodnog uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša H2 - Postoji povezanost između ulaganja u redovne programe NSS-a i ostvarenog međunarodnog uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša H3 - Više od polovice NSS-a smatra da je potrebno proširiti lepezu programskih namjena u redovnim programima NSS-a Metode: Istraživanjem su obuhvaćena 33 ljetna olimpijska sporta, financirana iz programa HOO-a u razdoblju od 2001. do 2016. godine. U istraživanju je regresijskim analizama te anketnim upitnikom utvrđivana povezanost između financijske potpore sportskih programa HOO-a i međunarodnog uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša, (mjerenog ostvarenim plasmanima od 1. do 8. mjesta na olimpijskim igrama (OI), svjetskim i europskim prvenstvima (SP i EP). Rezultati: Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da postoji statistički značajna povezanost između financijske potpore svih programa HOO-a i ostvarenog međunarodnog uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša na OI, SP i EP (OPKM=0.160, R2=0.319, p=0.001). Stoga je prvu hipotezu moguće prihvatiti. Također, rezultati ovog istraživanja pokazali su da postoji statistički značajna povezanost između ulaganja u redovne programe NSS-a i ostvarenog međunarodnog uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša na OI, SP i EP (OPKM=0.137, R2=0.274, p=0.002). Stoga je moguće prihvatiti drugu hipotezu. Za razliku od prve dvije hipoteze, treću hipotezu ne možemo niti potvrditi niti opovrgnuti jer su rezultati validacije anketnog upitnika pokazali da upitnik nije validiran, te stoga anketa nije niti pouzdana niti valjana. Nakon provedene regresijske analize dobiveni rezultati pokazali su koje varijable su u linearnom, a koje u nelinarenom odnosu s međunarodnim uspjehom hrvatskih sportaša, te na temelju dobivenog tipa povezanosti i koeficijenta determinacije (R2) možemo preporučiti HOO-u, a radi postizanja što boljih međunarodnih uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša, da značajno povećava vrijednosti varijabli koje imaju linearni odnos, zatim, da može umjereno povećavati vrijednosti varijabli koje imaju logaritamski odnos i da može do određenog iznosa povećavati vrijednosti varijablama koje imaju kvadratnu ili kubnu povezanost. Slijedom naprijed navedene analize, proizlazi da je za ostvarivanje većih vrhunskih uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša na OI, SP i EP potrebno najviše povećavati ukupan broj trenera, iznos potpore za razvojne programe za sportaše i trenere i Redovni program - administrativne i materijalne naknade, zatim, za ostvarivanje vrhunskih uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša na OI, potrebno je najviše povećavati potpore u Olimpijskom programu i broj sportaša u Olimpijskom programu, dok je za ostvarivanje vrhunskih uspjeha hrvatskih sportaša na SP i EP, potrebno povećati potpore redovnih programa - administrativne i materijalne naknade, a restrukturirati stavku redovni programi SP+EP. Zaključak: Uspjeh sportaša ima najveću povezanost s brojem trenera u razvojnim programima za trenere, brojem sportaša u Olimpijskom programu i financijskim potporama u razvojnim programima za sportaše i trenere te Olimpijskom programu i Redovnom programu – administrativne i materijalne naknade. Na temelju dobivenih rezultata, preporuke bi išle u smjeru restrukturiranja financijske potpore HOO-a. U raspodjeli financijskih sredstava bilo bi uputno pozornost usmjeriti prema onim programima koji su pokazali linearnu povezanost s ostvarenim sportskim uspjehom. Programe koji su najslabije povezani s međunarodnim uspjehom sportaša potrebno je poboljšati (restrukturirati), prije nego li dođe do opadanja rezultata na međunarodnim natjecanjima tj. napraviti prijelaz iz reaktivnog u preventivno restrukturiranje programa potpore. Takva dinamička prilagodba programa potpore omogućuje konstantno visoka postignuća hrvatskih sportaša u stalno promjenjivim uvjetima elitnog sporta.Introduction: Current research on sports funding suggest that an increasing number of governments and national sports organizations spend more and more money in effort to gain the international success of their countries. Over the last two decades, many studies were trying to answer why some countries are more successful at the international sports competitions than the others and how country and sport policy decisions (primarily by deciding how much resources will be allocated for sport and in which particular direction to invest) can bring comparative advantage to their athletes. Previous research has shown a strong positive association between the amount of national funds invested in the elite sport and sports success of the country. Research have also shown there is no complete guarantee for sports success. Each country needs to find a key areas of sports investment, while the money is a prerequisite but not a guarantee of success - the allocation of a sports budget is as important as its total amount. In the Republic of Croatia, the financing of sport from the state budget is implemented through the ‘Program of Public Needs of State Level Sports’, which mainly relates to the activities of the Croatian Olympic Committee and National Sports Federations – the encouragement and promotion of sport, the development of sports, the care of top class athletes, the organization of preparations and the participation of Croatian athletes at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships, etc. Aim: The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between the financial support of the Croatian Olympic Committee program and the international success of Croatian athletes from 2001 to 2016, i.e. to examine how the Croatian Olympic Committee made the distribution of sports budget (which sports programs and which particular sports were the most invested) and the impact of that amount to the international success of Croatian male and female athletes. Bearing in mind the primary aim of the research, three hypotheses were put forward: H1 - There is a correlation between the financial support of the Croatian Olympic Committee and the achieved international success of Croatian athletes H2 - There is a correlation between investing in regular programmes of National Sports Federations and the achieved international success of Croatian athletes H3 - More than half of the National Sports Federations consider it necessary to expand the range of purposes in their regular programmes Methods: The study covered 33 summer Olympic sports, funded by the Croatian Olympic Committee's programme from 2001 to 2016. The study used a regression analysis and a questionnaire to determine the correlation between the financial support of the Croatian Olympic Committee's sport programmes and the international success of Croatian athletes (measured by rankings 1st to 8th achieved at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships). Results: The results of the research show that there is a statistically significant correlation between the financial support of all Croatian Olympic Committee's programmes and the achieved international success of Croatian athletes achieved at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships (OPKM=0.160, R2=0.319, p=0.001). Therefore, the first hypothesis can be accepted. Also, the results of this research show that there is a statistically significant correlation between investing in regular programmes of National Sports Federations and the international success of Croatian athletes achieved at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships (OPKM = 0.137, R2 = 0.274, p = 0.002). Therefore, it is possible to accept the second hypothesis. Unlike the first two hypotheses, the third hypothesis cannot be either confirmed or disproved, as the results of the validation of the questionnaire showed that the questionnaire was not validated and therefore the survey was neither reliable nor valid. After the regression analysis, the obtained results showed which variables are in linear, and which in the nonlinear relation with the international success of Croatian athletes, and based on the obtained type of correlation and coefficient of determination (R2), it can be recommended to the Croatian Olympic Committee, in order for the Croatian athletes to achieve the best international success, that it significantly increases the values of variables that have a linear relationship, then that it can moderately increase the values of variables that have a logarithmic relationship, and that it can increase the values of variables that have a quadratic or cubic relationship to a certain amount. Following the before mentioned analysis, it follows that in order to achieve the highest top achievements of Croatian athletes at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships, it is necessary to increase most the total number of coaches, the amount of support for development programmes for athletes and coaches, and the regular programme - administrative and material fees, then, to achieve the highest successes of Croatian athletes in the Olympic Games, it is necessary to maximize the grants and the number of athletes in the Olympic programme, while in order to achieve the top successes of Croatian athletes in the World and European Championships, it is necessary to maximize the grants of regular programmes - administrative and material fees, and to restructure the item of regular programmes for World + European Championships. Conclusion: The success of athletes has the highest correlation with the number of coaches in the development programmes for coaches, the number of athletes in the Olympic programme and the financial support for development programmes for athletes and coaches, and the Olympic and regular programmes - administrative and material fees. Based on the results obtained, the recommendations would go towards restructuring the financial support of the Croatian Olympic Committee. In the allocation of financial resources, it would be advisable to focus attention on those programmes that have shown a linear relationship with sporting success. The programmes that have the weakest relationship with international success of athletes need to be improved (restructured) before the results at international competitions decline, i.e. a transition from a reactive to a preventive restructuring of the support programmes has to be made. Such dynamic adaptation of the support programme enables the constantly high achievements of Croatian athletes in the ever-changing conditions of elite sport