Would you make the cut with your Sensitive Industries knowledge?

This summer it’s all about the Paris Olympics with athletes from more than 200 different recognised territories and countries coming together to compete. We can expect different things from different countries with each country bringing its own dynasty of sports it excels at. And a lot of this is driven by culture, history, and resources. 

Some countries dominate particular disciplines or certain continents might excel in a bank of similar sports. China, for example, is unparalleled in table tennis, but it is evident that APAC as a region is dominant.The USA is a dominant force in the Olympics when it comes to the medal tally, capturing more gold and overall medals than any other nation in the Olympiad. Key sports include athletics, swimming, shooting, wrestling, diving, gymnastics, rowing, basketball, boxing, wrestling, diving, gymnastics, rowing, basketball, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, cycling, tennis, archery and equestrian.  

Are you able to guess as to how many sports are on the Olympic programme for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games? We were surprised to discover it is just 32 - honestly, given the programme we thought it would have been a lot more. That said, there are many sub-categories to each of the sports, with varying qualifying criteria and different numbers of qualifying athletes (1810 in athletics alone if you’re curious)..

Each sport is also organised differently, so the complexity of the Olympic programme builds up. For example, there isn’t just a simple single route to qualifying as an athlete, 50% of qualification places are based on achieving the entry standard for an event within the qualification period, and the other 50% based on the World Athletics Ranking within the ranking period. Of course entry standards vary across all sports, are different based on gender and qualification and ranking periods are not standard across each sport.

In essence each country has different sports it culturally cares more about, there are all sorts of different qualifying criteria, with varying timeframes, some qualifying criteria are absolutes, some not and the parameters change.

The same can be said for Sensitive Industries. There is a lot to get your arms around and so we’ve put together a quick knowledge check to see if you’d make the cut. Would you qualify if it was an Olympic sport?! Test your knowledge now.