Top level sports

No.

Indicator (HTML-version in German)

Summary of results

3.1

Success of Swiss athletes in international sports

Even though Switzerland is a small country with a limited number of talented athletes it does quite well in international championships. Measuring success in international sports on the basis of Olympic Games one has to note that Switzerland was less successful in London 2012 than four years earlier in Bejing. The same applies for the Winter Games of Vancouver 2010 as compared to the Torino Games of 2006. Still, from the Swiss point of view, Sydney and Torino were particularly successful whereas London, Bejing and Vancouver were more in line with earlier Olympic Games.

3.2

Talent selection and promotion

In 2002 a new organisational unit called "Swiss Olympic Talents" (SOT) aimed at talent promotion was established as a joint venture of the FOSPO and the Swiss Olympic Association. SOT has started a number of promising projects whose effect can not yet be assessed due to the short time span since their start.

With respect to the newly created talent promotion opportunities in the framework of "Youth and Sports" (J+S, see indicator 1.5) one can note, however, that they have become very popular in a short time (about 15'000 participants in 2010). Yet, it is also important to note that the proportion of female athletes in this programme only amounts to about a thirt  of all participants thus confirming that the model of "male dominated elite sports" is still predominant in Switzerland.

3.3

Swiss Olympic Talents Cards

In 2006, Swiss Olympic Talents has introduced "identity cards" for talented and successful young athletes. At the end of 2006, 6002 of these cards had been distributed; in 2011, about 5500 cards are held by "talented young athletes".

3.4

Educational opportunities for talented athletes

Over the past few years a number of "sport friendly schools" and educational offers have been established. In 2011 about 3'000 young athletes were enrolled in a total of 48 "Swiss Olympic Sport Schools" or "Swiss Olympic Partner Schools".

In addition, currently about 300 young athletes are doing their vocational training in one of over 200 "athlete friendly" enterprises.

Finally, a special type of talent promotion has been introduced successfully in 2004: the possibility to pass one's military service in a special athletes' training camp. This opportunity is currently used by about 150 persons per year.

3.5

Identity cards for elite athletes (Swiss Olympic Cards)

The Swiss Olympic Association issues so-called "Swiss Olympic Cards" for elite athletes. These cards are the basis for identifying elite athletes and allocating a number of benefits to them. The annual number of cards issued has been stable until very recently when more strict qualification criteria were introduced. Currently, 875 persons are classified as "top level athletes", only about 40 percent of which are women.

3.6

Training programmes for sport coaches

Currently, some 150 persons per year attend the basic and diploma training courses for coaches. These courses are provided jointly by Swiss Olympic and the Federal Sports University in Maccolin.

3.7

Realization of support programmes in associations

not yet available