It oversees 55 sports federations as well as the Norwegian Olympic Committee, the Paralympic Committee and the Special Olympics. Surveys show that 80 per cent of Norwegians belonged to a club during their childhood and roughly half of all teenagers are active club members.Īnd unlike Canada, Norway has only one national sports organization, the Norwegian Confederation of Sports. Families often ski, skate or play games together and pitch in with fundraising. There are more than 12,000 across the country and all are run almost entirely by volunteers. Warholm didn’t concentrate on the hurdles until he was 20 and spent years competing in decathlon.Ĭlubs form the backbone of sports in Norway. But even talented teens often dabble in a variety of sports and remain attached to their local club. Promising teenagers can specialize in a chosen event and receive high-calibre coaching. It’s all covered in Norway’s “Children’s Rights in Sport,” a 12-page document that says “children should receive a positive experience every time they participate in sport.” Clubs aren’t allowed to keep league standings or even record game scores for children under 13, and there are no individual rankings, travelling teams or national championships for that age group. It starts with a radically different approach to sports that’s based on a concept known as the “Joy of Sport for All.” While Canadians and Americans stream kids who display potential into elite teams at an early age, Norway keeps the focus on participation.Ĭhildren are encouraged to play as many sports as possible, and costs are kept low for parents. So how does Norway do it? How can a country of 5.3 million people – roughly one-third the population of Ontario – produce such a wealth of talent? And who can forget one of the standout moments from last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo, when Norway’s Karsten Warholm smashed his own world record in the 400-metre hurdles, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen continued his dominance of middle-distance races by winning the 1,500 metres? Heck, a Norwegian duo even won gold in men’s beach volleyball. 8 in tennis, Viktor Hovland is a top 10 golfer, soccer player Erling Haaland is considered one of the best young strikers anywhere, and Magnus Carlsen has been ranked No. Norwegian athletes are among the very best in a host of summer pastimes. And Norway is expected to do even better in China, possibly taking home 45 medals, according to a recent forecast from U.S.-based Gracenote Sports.Īnd if you think this small Nordic country is only good at events on ice and snow, think again. At the last Games, in 2018, Norway finished first with a record 39 medals – 10 more than Canada, which had its best Games ever and came third, behind Germany. If you think that’s going out on a limb, consider that Norway has won more Winter Olympic medals – 368 – than any other country, including 132 golds. But there’s one thing you can count on: The country most likely to top the medal standings won’t be the United States, Russia or Canada, it will be Norway – again. When the Winter Olympics start next month in Beijing, there will be plenty of upsets and surprises.
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