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Highlights► Olympic team size (athletes) is the best single mediator–predictor of Olympic medals share. ► Best determinants are growth rate, unemployment, health expenditures, ex-host, and population. ► Growth rate, unemployment, and health expenditures are novel determinants. ► Labor force and inflation do not constitute significant determinants of Olympic success. ► The “population-GDP” model is lacking completeness in explaining the number of Olympic medals won.
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Vagenas et al. (2011) studied this question.
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