The performance and success of the African nations in the 2012 London Olympic Games was considered to be poor and well below expectation, taking into account the number of African countries that participated in the Games and the size of their teams. Generally, the continent has recorded minimal success in the Olympics as a result of repeated poor performances evident in the small number of medals won, low positions on medal tables and the inability to achieve other performance objectives. This research explored the performance and success of African nations in the 2012 London Olympics in light of literature from both sports science and project management. It investigated the views of key stakeholders on the measurement criteria for success of these countries, their actual achievements in the Games and the issues and challenges that impeded their performance and success. The results derived from the research findings were used to propose a framework for improving the performance and success of African countries in the Olympics, with a view that the proposed framework could also be useful in the context of other major sporting tournaments. The philosophical paradigm upon which this study was rooted is interpretivism. Owing to the inductive nature of the study, the researcher adopted a qualitative research design, which supported a cyclic collection and analysis of data. The method of data collection was primarily through interviews conducted with the participants who were NOC executives, athletes and coaches from the African countries. The findings from this study indicated that, apart from socio-economic factors, the poor performance of African countries in Olympic Games is also linked to sport policy issues and an absence of key project management critical success factors (CSFs) in the development of elite sports in these countries. The contribution of this study to the body of knowledge is therefore evident in a) the provision of valuable insight into the performance of African countries in the 2012 London Olympic Games, with an identification of targets set and challenges faced b) the proposition of a framework which integrates project management CSFs with sport policies and procedures to improve the performance and success of African nations in the Olympics and c) the provision of theoretical benchmarks for subsequent studies in the area of sport performance and success, as well as recommendations to the industry on strategies for improving elite sports performance in major sporting tournaments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:678028 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Ojie, F. N. |
| Publisher | University of Salford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://usir.salford.ac.uk/36760/ |
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