Support for Amateur Olympics

Half the adults in the United States (51%) believe that participation in the Olympic Games should still be limited to amateurs, according to the latest Harris Poll - but younger generations do not tend to agree. The survey also found that most people (69%) support partial federal government funding of US Olympic athletes.

The Games have been restricted to amateurs for most of the history of the modern Olympics, but this may seem increasingly odd to new generations. Substantial majorities of those over age 65 (68%) and of those aged 50 to 64 (62%) favor not allowing professional athletes to participate, while most people under age 40 think they should participate. Only 21% of people aged 18 to 24 favor not allowing professional athletes to compete.

Hardly anybody (4%) thinks the federal government should provide all the money needed to train US Olympic athletes, but as above, most think it should pay some of the costs. 44% of these favor mostly private funding with some federal funding, and 21% mostly federal funding with some private funding.

Almost everybody (93%) believes that the best way to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing drugs is to take away the medals of athletes who test positive and to suspend them. There is some disagreement about the length of suspension (46% think it should be for life, while 45% think it should be for the current games). In addition, 36% favor monetary fines for the athletes and 26% favor monetary fines for the sports governing bodies of the countries involved.

The great majority (78%) believes that the US Olympic Committee should fund all participants in Olympic sports, not just potential medal winners.

Harris Interactive surveyed 2,242 people aged 18+ across the USA between July 12 and 16. Its web site is at www.harrisinteractive.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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