Are England the P4P best sporting nation on earth?

[Elite]

Only country to win Football, Cricket and Rugby Union world cups.

 

Have had dozens of boxing world champions.

 

Do very well at the Olympics competing with nations that are vastly bigger. 

 

Name any sport and it's highly likely that a English person has competed at the highest level or is/was a champion.

[aRdja]

Basketball, Swimming, Tennis?

 

Some would argue you continually underachieve in football too.

[Boss]

We punch well above our weight but America is still number 1.

[Elite]

5 minutes ago, viRdjil said:

Basketball, Swimming, Tennis?

Obviously there's specific sports they don't do well in but overall, for a nation that's as small as England they compete at the highest level in most sports. The focus on too many sports could possible be an hindrance in some respects.

[Elite]

2 minutes ago, Boss said:

We punch well above our weight but America is still number 1.

Yeah but it's about 40 times as big.

[Lee909]

Australia has a population of 24ml

New Zealand 4.7ml

 

Id say overall they probably do better P4P. 

[Pureblood]

Zero years of hurt.

[Jarvinja Ilnow]

17 minutes ago, viRdjil said:

Basketball, Swimming, Tennis?

 

Some would argue you continually underachieve in football too.

[Captain Turdseye]

23 minutes ago, Elite said:

Only country to win Football, Cricket and Rugby Union world cups.

 

Have had dozens of boxing world champions.

 

Do very well at the Olympics competing with nations that are vastly bigger. 

 

Name any sport and it's highly likely that a English person has competed at the highest level or is/was a champion.

 

England don’t compete at the Olympics

[mattyq]

19 minutes ago, viRdjil said:

Basketball, Swimming, Tennis?

 

Some would argue you continually underachieve in football too.

Adam Peaty, best swimmer in the world

[aws]

Per population, NZ first then Wales then Australia. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Pump a lot of money into Sports. I'm not sure size comes into it when you still have a large population. 

[Moctezuma]

[Elite]

13 minutes ago, Captain Turdseye said:

 

England don’t compete at the Olympics

Well Britain. Just include the English medalists.

[Josef Svejk]

39 minutes ago, Elite said:

Only country to win Football, Cricket and Rugby Union world cups.

A better comparison for the cricket world cup is the rugby sevens equivalent. Entertaining and popular as it is,  the cricket world cup isn't the pinnacle of its own sport in its proper form...

[Josef Svejk]

40 minutes ago, Elite said:

Name any sport and it's highly likely that a English person has competed at the highest level or is/was a champion.

Gaelic football? Aussie rules football? Any other sport that wasn't codified by Victorian Englishmen?

[Elite]

1 minute ago, Josef Svejk said:

Gaelic football? Aussie rules football? Any other sport that wasn't codified by Victorian Englishmen?

Those are niche sports.

[Lee909]

13 minutes ago, Pistonbroke said:

Pump a lot of money into Sports. I'm not sure size comes into it when you still have a large population. 

Yeah off the top of my head much of Britain's Olympic success comes from the middle class sports like rowing etc. 

 

We normally habe a couple of good track athletes but I wouldn't say we over perform vs say the East Africans or Algeria on the track 

[Lee909]

1 minute ago, Elite said:

Those are niche sports.

You could easy argue so is Cricket and Rugby as they are mostly played by old parts of the empire, even if the numbers are huge(mostly by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) 

[aws]

I reckon GB hits par in the Olympics but England massively underachieve in rugby and tennis and regularly underachieve in football. England do overachieve in boxing. All based on population, facilities and money available. 

[Elite]

2 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

You could easy argue so is Cricket and Rugby as they are mostly played by old parts of the empire, even if the numbers are huge(mostly by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) 

The number of competing nations is limited in those sports but I assume Aussie Rules/Gaelic Football are national games that no one else plays.

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, viRdjil said:

Basketball, Swimming, Tennis?

 

Some would argue you continually underachieve in football too.

Is Elite competing in all these events? Greatness in our midst.

[Josef Svejk]

11 minutes ago, Elite said:

The number of competing nations is limited in those sports but I assume Aussie Rules/Gaelic Football are national games that no one else plays.

They are sports played and promoted within their political spheres. So, much equivalent to the three sports you initially mentioned in that sense. The spheres just happen to vary in scale (for reasons best ignored here).

 

Incidentally, regarding those three sports, England has won 3 world cups in 41 competitions. That's hardly over-achievement given the origins of the sports.

[General Dryness]

46 minutes ago, aws said:

Per population, NZ first then Wales then Australia. 

This. Continually amazes me how close to the top of the tree the kiwis are in so many sports with such a tiny population.

[Jairzinho]

44 minutes ago, Pistonbroke said:

Pump a lot of money into Sports. I'm not sure size comes into it when you still have a large population. 

Yeah, I'm not sure population is the biggest factor really.