The Most Dominate Winter Olympics Country You Forgot of.

Yesterday, the 2018 Winter Olympic games came to a close in Pyeongchang, South Korea. If you take a look at the medal count, you’ll see familiar countries dotting the top of the leaderboard like the United States, Germany and Canada. None of those three countries though lead the games in total medal count though, that title goes to Norway. The semi-artic country in northern Europe took top honors this year at the Olympic games winning a staggering 39 total medals. That’s the most total medals won by any nation in the past 20 years, the United States came close in Vancouver (2010) with 37.

​When you think of the Winter Olympics and dominant countries, names like the USA, Canada or Russia come to mind. Each country has their respective sports they dominate in. The U.S. usually wins most snowboarding events. Canada and Russia usually switch off in winning men’s hockey. Norway may not top the medal charts every Winter Olympics, but all-time they’re the most dominant country by far tallying 55 more medals than the United States (in 2nd). They lead medals in Cross country skiing, Nordic combined and Ski jumping.

Norway’s dominance in winter sports can be attributed to its unique geography and location as nearly a third of it resides within the artic circle. The country is entrenched with mountains and is used to cold weather, therefore winter sports are in their bloodline. The most popular sports in Norway are cross country skiing and the biathlon (a combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting), and that directly correlates to their most dominate sports in the Olympics. With Norway being the birthplace of Ski Jumping, they also lead the world in that sport.Typically, if an Olympic sport has any relation, or use within skiing, Norway will annually compete for the podium. Norway is also the birthplace of the Biathlon. Attributing to the success of the nation in this Olympic sport, it stems from military strategy of skiing in harsh winters and shooting at targets.

In conclusion, the most dominate country in Winter Olympics history isn’t one most people know of, or recognize. Norway’s Winter Olympic dominance stems from their skiing heritage and being the birthplace of some winter sports. By dominating these sports early on, and by continuously taking top medals in most ski-related sports, Norway leads the world in total Winter Olympic medals.

Questions

1. What are some initial reactions to Norway being such a dominant country, winter sport wise?

2. With the Summer Olympics being more popular than the Winter games, how can the Winter games improve to garner more interest?