The Miscellaneous Sports Thread

[crazy canuck]

And as it turns out the Swedish Curlers are a bit suspect.  The Swedish skip can be heard saying, "I will show you the video".  That means he knew someone in the stands (perhaps someone affiliated with the Swedish curling team) was unlawfully taking videos of the hog line (the videos that have now widely circulated).

Lots of questions around this. There is no video replay in curling - if a rule violation is detected the umpire rules on it.  This is a low for the sport.

[Grey Fox]

I said it before, like F1. Everyone is running around the rules trying to find an advantage.

[HVC]

I said it before, like F1. Everyone is running around the rules trying to find an advantage.

If youre not cheating in the Olympics you're not trying hard enough

[Bauer]

What's odd too is that curling is partly self officiated in a gentlemanly way.  Or was?

[HVC]

Valiant effort Swedes.

[Norgy]

There are too many sports.

Norway probably won gold in shoelaces or something while Bodø-Glimt spanked Internazzionale of Milano in the Champions League. I'd say Norway is fairly good at sports in general.

Few will ask why that is and chalk it up to random winners' luck.

[Jacob]

Now I'm compelled to ask... "why?"

[Norgy]

Not a state-run doping programme.
Rather, the national lottery and communities coming together to make sure there are pitches, schoolyards, swimming pools and indoor facilities for every damned child in Norway.

I tend to disagree with how early there is a selection of talent. 13-14 years of age is too early, in my opinion.

Semi-pro or pro coaching from that age is wrong.

But it yields results. Like skiers. Like Haaland. Like Bodø-Glimt. Norwegians don't go for the mass of athletes, but the few, the special ones. If Norway has five in the top tier of any sports, that is a win. We were hopeless at football. We will win no world cups, but the effort made to make that team that qualified for this year's WC is in the billion bracket. Over decades.

Why does Norway of all countries have top athletes in golf, we do not even have decent courses. Why do Norwegians win medals in track and field and set world records?

Because of the state lottery funnelling large sums back into the grassroot sports and the Scandinavian model of labour allowing some dads to coach their kids.
So doping, yes. Of a different kind. Of money and resources. Scholarships from companies deeply invested in ending humanity, like oil companies, are also common.

God, how I wish I had kids.

[Sheilbh]

I'm with you until applying that logic to Haaland Football is slightly different here because of the sheer amount of money in football (not that it necessarily reaches the grassroots).

But interesting as I think similar story here with summer Olympics sports. 1996 was the nadir for our Olympics when I think we won about 15 medals in total - but the mid-90s was also when a National Lottery was established and one of the "good causes" it helped fund was sports.

20 years later and GB now regularly wins over 60 medals at summer Olympics.

Similarly to what you say there is a slightly dark side to this which is basically about the money being ruthlessly funnelled into areas where there's possible talent capable of winning medals/doing well in international competition and as you say coaching focus on the talented.

So there's a bit of a question over whether that money should actually be spent on more mass participation sports projects, on the other hand I think there's evidnce that actually seeing athletes do well inspires more participation (cycling is the big example).