Be a Top Cold Country. Win.

(Top Winter Activities - no specific order: 1) Downhill Skiing/Snowboarding 2) Ice Hockey 3) Snowshoeing 4) Skating 5) Cross Country Skiing)

When you search for the coldest countries in the world, you will repetitively see Antarctica, Canada, Russia, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Mongolia, and even the U.S. sneak on the list. But, ATA, ISL, GRL, and MGL did not medal in Sochi.  Canada, Russia, and Finland are formidable opponents (ironically, the men's ice hockey team played all three of these teams in Sochi and lost to two of them.)

The Top 5 Olympic Medal Winners from Sochi:
Russia (cold)
USA (cold)
Norway (cold)
Canada (cold)
Netherlands (cold)....the rest are cold too.

The Top 5 winners from Vancouver:
USA (cold)
Germany (cold)
Canada (cold)
Norway (cold)
Austria (cold)

OK, so some of the coldest countries win big at the Winter Olympics Games. Perhaps the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ranking has something to do with Olympic success (Russia - #7; USA - #1; Norway - #23; Canada - #11; Netherlands - #18). Over the past two Winter Olympics, four of the top 15 richest countries in the world measured, respectively, overall and per capita, have finished in the top 5 on the medal table: USA - #1/#7; Germany - #5/#18; Canada - #13/#9; Norway - #46/#4; Austria - #37/#11; Netherlands - #23/#12; Russia - #6/#57.

So, it is a money thing right?

No.

Plenty of countries are rich and do not place on the medal table. Plenty of countries are cold and do not place on the medal table. So, it is a culture thing...right?

Now, we are getting somewhere.

With heart,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS           www.teempt.com          TEEM Performance Training