Final Word from Monday, March 1, 2010
The countries that won the most medals at the Winter Olympics are also among those that are the most competitive economically. The Czechs finished 13th in Vancouver, with six medals, and every team that won more medals - with the notable exception of Russia - also did better on the 2009-2010 Global Competitiveness Index. The CR was No. 31 on that list, two notches below China. In its Vision 2020 document, ODS said that it wants the CR to become one of the world's 20 most-competitive economies over the next decade. In winter sports, the CR has already achieved this. Czechs excel mainly at individual disciplines, though, and a few highly talented people are doing well despite a wasteful sports program that favors bureaucrats and fat cats more than athletes. Improving competitiveness, whether in sports or in business, will mean concentrating on removing all the obstacles to team success.[Czech Republic World Economic Forum Games]
Glossary of difficult words
notch - a point or a degree in a scale;
Vision 2020 - the part addressing global competitiveness is found on Page 30;
fat cat - a wealthy and powerful person, esp. a businessman or politician.