Purpose In the presence of limited financial resources, developing countries such as Lebanon often allocate small budgets to the sports sector. Even more, the Lebanese Government lacks a strategic approach that is necessary for any nation to achieve elite sport success. This study aims to assess the motivations and barriers that impact Lebanese athletes’ achievements at the Olympics by addressing the factors that affect such participation. Two main aspects were put into the study: lack of governmental support and sponsorship. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the barriers that hinder achievement by Lebanese Olympians in their International participation with an emphasis on the factors that affect their performance whether positively or negatively. The methodology consisted of a set of survey questions filled by 50 Lebanese athletes and 4 interviews conducted with Lebanese Olympians to make use of their experience and insight regarding such barriers and how to best boost motivation among young and potential talent. Findings The findings shed light on the limited Lebanese Olympic participation; out of the 17 participation (226 Olympians in total), only 4 Olympians won medals for the country; the past victory was 38 years ago. The reasons as reached are mainly due to the lack of government support and the inability of athletes to secure-related sponsors. Specifically, a lack of governmental support has a negative correlation with athletes’ achievements in international contests. Moreover, the inability of athletes to secure the financial support, in the form of sponsorship, necessary for the training, preparation and all the way to participation. Research limitations/implications The study revealed a lack of active participation from the government in nurturing skill and elevating talented athletes’ chance to achieve in the Olympics. The main factor that this study was able to identify is the lack of an official body to manage the nurturing, training, financial support up to participation of the athletes in the international events. Practical implications The study highlighted the importance of training camps and consistent improvement to performance. While these two require extensive investment and devotion, athletes on their own cannot afford to fulfill the requirements without the support of the government; the latter being almost absent. Originality/value The insights provided through this study address the importance of sponsorship and government support in athletes’ achievements. It shed light on areas that are nonexistent for the Lebanese case and provided practical recommendations that if applied, would increase the chances of Lebanon in competing effectively in the international arena.

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Lebanon is currently witnessing the most severe banking sector crisis in its history. Thus, nowadays, the demand for financial analyses in banks has increased to examine the financial distress and the potential impact of the macroeconomic factors. Consequently, this research studies bank distress in Lebanese Alpha banks and addresses the question of how the Lebanese major macroeconomic factors affect it. The researchers calculated the mean Altman Z”-scores for 10 Lebanese Alpha banks for the period 2009 – 2018 as an indicator for financial distress. Furthermore, they collected data regarding the chosen macroeconomic indicators for the same period from the World Bank Data. Consequently, the researchers developed a Regression Model and analyzed the model and a multicollinearity test. The calculated Altman Z"-scores showed that Lebanese Alpha banks were very likely to be financially distressed. Moreover, the results showed that there is a positive relationship between debt service, government expenditures, unemployment, and the real interest rate on one side and alpha banks’ high probability to become distressed on the other side. First, gathering data regarding the macroeconomic indicators was a hurdle as there were differences among the sources (Lebanese Ministry of Finance, BDL, Bloomberg, IMF, and World Bank). This is why the authors depended on the values published by the World Bank Data as a reliable source. Second, there is a lack of studies analyzing the relationship between the banking sector’s current crisis and the individual macroeconomic variables. However, this limitation also gives value to the results of this study. This research sheds light on the significance of the Altman Z"-score as an indicator for financial distress in Lebanese Alpha banks. Thus, a model can be developed based on the basic Altman model that fits for Lebanese banks. Moreover, banking authorities (BdL, ABL, and BCC) should impose yearly calculations of this score to detect probable future distress. The value of this study stems from it being one of the first studies in the Lebanese market examining the impact of macroeconomic factors on the Z”-scores of the Lebanese Alpha banks using the Multiple Regression Model.