huolympics1-8, Exercise 1: State support

Model answer:

The state paid for stadiums, pools, coaches and training camps, tested children at school and moved talented ones into sports schools and clubs, and gave top athletes jobs, housing or army posts so that they could train full-time while being nominally amateurs. Clubs such as Honvéd and Dózsa were tied to the army and the police.

Advantage: it made sport and training widely available and supported older traditions such as fencing, swimming and water polo, producing strong results for a small country.

Risk: control over travel and contacts, pressure to represent the system, secrecy, and the possibility of abuses such as doping. Details should be checked.