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And the greatest sporting nation is...


norwaysaint
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Yeah, Norway's probably the most successful Olympic nation because they dominate the Winter Olympics.

People like Bjørndalen, Aamodt (the most successful downhill skier ever), Dæhlie (most successful winter Olympian ever) stand out, but they always have a strong team and are gutted if they aren't among the medals. It's a really high expectation for a population of 4 and a half million.

It's like a religion over here. Everybody skis either downhill or cross-country, but they are quite fitness-orientated generally. I work at a sixth form and at least 90% of my students belong to a sports team and work out at a gym regularly. They would nearly all take for granted that they will go to the mountains for skiing in winter and at Easter and most have a family cabin in the mountains.

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I just finished reading Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanski and they actually have a section in there where they research via statistics the best sporting nation in Europe and they came to the same conclusion: Norway. And it was Norway by a landslide. It wasn't about their famous players but more about how EVERYONE in Norway participates in sport. They said that even in the smallest and most remote towns you could easily find an indoor sporting facility and when they tried to figure out how many people actively participate in a sport it was absurdly high compared to the rest of Europe.

 

 

They stated that they did not look outside of Europe due to lack of data, so the Jamaica finding could be accurate.

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