Just a small remark: Brazil has 200Million , some of the best sailors in the Worlds too: Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt for ie.
Note I´m Argentine (strong football rivalry against BR), here we have only 40 millions, but we could participate in next AC cup with the Matador crew + Lange + Juan K (Volvo 70) as designer.
But no better example than "little" New Zealand with world best sailor and rugbiers to realize that quantity and huge resources are not always the key.