How can nations improve their chances of winning medals in international sport? This book deals with the strategic policy planning process that underpins the development of successful national elite sport development systems. Drawing on various international competitiveness studies, it examines how nations develop and implement policies that are based on the critical success factors that may lead to competitive advantage in world sport. An international group of researchers joined forces to develop theories, methods and a model on the Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS). The book presents the results of the large-scale international SPLISS-project. In this project the research team identified, compared and contrasted elite sport policies and strategies in place for the Olympic Games and other events in 15 distinct nations. With input from 58 researchers and 33 policy makers worldwide and the views of over 3,000 elite athletes, 1,300 high performance coaches and 240 performance directors, this work is the largest benchmarking study of national elite sport policies ever conducted. The nations taking part in SPLISS are: Americas: Brazil and Canada Asia: Japan and South Korea Europe: Belgium (Flanders & Wallonia), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland Oceania: Australia

Veerle de Bosscher is associate professor of Sport Management in the department of Sports Policy and Management and research group Sport and Society, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Simon Shibli is professor of Sport Management in the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Hans Westerbeek is professor of Sport Business and Dean of the College of Sport and Exercise Science and of the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL) at Victoria University, Australia. Maarten van Bottenburg is a professor of Sport Management and Sport Policy in the School of Governance of Utrecht University, the Netherlands.