The Advantage of American Elite Education, Olympics and Harvard University

In the current London Olympics, the number of gold medals for China and the U.S. is being seen by critics as an indicator of the economic competitiveness between the two countries, especially whether China can be Number One, possessing the most gold just like it did in the Beijing Olympics. No matter who is the final winner, the background of Olympic athletes has reflected the big advantage of America in elite education.

This advantage can be proved by the number of athletes coming from Harvard University. According to the Harvard campus newspaper, The Crimson, and its alumni magazine, four years ago a total of seven Harvard graduates and undergraduates participated in the Beijing Olympics; two won the gold, and one won the silver. This year in the London Olympics there are as many as nine athletes that are Harvard students. Although only one Harvard alumnus on the American swimming team went to the finals (men's 10,000 meters), at least five Harvard alumni (including one recently admitted American-born Chinese) are going to the semi-finals of the Olympic women's swimming competition. In the track and field events, many Harvard students and alumni are also among the finalists.

NBA starter, American-born Chinese Jeremy Shu-How Lin has proved that the sports star from the Ivy League university is also a straight-A student academically, absolutely not a simple-minded muscle. Comparatively, in the top two Chinese universities, Peking and Qinghua universities, the number of undergraduates is four times more that of Harvard, but in the large Chinese Olympic team, how many of them are undergraduates or graduates from these two schools?


In history, sports and body-building are part of the aristocratic education in western culture. There is a saying in the upper society of England, “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playgrounds of Eton." This tradition is passed down in American elite education. Even the origins of the name of the Ivy League are sports-related. It refers to the sports league amongst these eight universities.

Over a very long period of time, students from Ivy League universities have always been the main strength of American athletes in Olympic arena. The first world champion, James Connolly, in the first modern Olympics (1896 Athens Olympics) was studying at Harvard before the games.

It must be pointed out that the sports where American elites have strength are various aristocratic sports, especially water sports (rowing, boating, swimming), ice sports, fencing, equestrian sports, lacrosse, etc. Among nine Harvard alumni participating in this London Olympics, six are rowing athletes. In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and 1968 Mexico Olympics, Harvard rowing team (1964 four-person rowing, 1968 eight-person rowing) represented America. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, two gold and one silver are all from the Harvard rowing team.

American Elite Education Puts Emphasis on Sports

In figure skating, Harvard University had three Olympic champions up to 2004, 14 American champions and seven American Figure Skating Association presidents. The Chinese media's report that Michelle Kwan ever studied at Harvard University was wrong. This nine-time American figure skating champion was never recruited to Harvard University. The Ivy League universities do not admit students only for their sports talents.

The deep relationship between the Ivy League universities and the Olympics, shows that American elite education has experienced a big change from "the noble privilege” to “admission, given talents." Sports as a basic element of education and social activities are still one important consideration of modernized universities when they select the talents with leadership potential. Today among the students admitted to Ivy League universities, the sports elite account for 10 to 20 percent. The admission rate for sports elite is two to three times above that of average applicants.

American elite education emphasizes sports education, which is not entirely a heritage of aristocratic education. Athletes are more likely to win social success due to their competitive instincts. This can be supported by evidence from psychological, physiological and social investigations. Especially at the highest level of Olympic competition, intelligence and perseverance play a very important role. These are qualities that the Ivy League universities favor.

There are numerous examples that athletes trained by Ivy League universities become leaders in society. For example, Robert Stone Jr., who served a record 27 years on Harvard University's governing board and has led the presidential search committee that selected Lawrence H. Summers, the chief financial officer of the U.S. government, to be the 27th president of Harvard University, led Harvard rowing teams in breaking the 2000-meter world record. American President Gerald Ford is two-time American champion of the all-star soccer game. He accepted the coaching jobs for football and boxing at Yale before studying at Yale law school. Robert Mathias, a two-time Olympic champion, set his world decathlon records while at Stanford University. He has now been a congressman for four years. President George Bush was the captain of the Yale baseball team, and twice went to the finals of the national collegiate baseball championship.

Another example is Bill Bradley, NBA player, who excels Jeremy Shu in both basketball skills and academics. Bradley is a member of the Olympic basketball champion team and studied at Princeton University. He attended Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship. After leaving the NBA he served as congressman for three years. In 2000, he was nominated to be a presidential candidate.
　
Ivy League universities recruit sports elites from all parts of the world. David Johnston, current governor general of Canada, was the captain of ice hockey team while at Harvard, and was the model for the ice hockey team captain in the famous novel Love Story.
　
The advantages of American elite education in the cultivation of successful social leaders are fully reflected in the Olympic Games. It is really worth the deep thoughts of Chinese educators.