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Countries that underachieve vs countries that overachieve in sports relative to their size
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<blockquote data-quote="Bruce_ma gooshvili" data-source="post: 1152696" data-attributes="member: 74121"><p>Agree on NZ. Particularly when their climate isn't sensational for outdoor sport and they are really isolated geographically. Probably number 1 for me because they win stuff in these sports (even if they are fairly niche sports).</p><p></p><p>Fiji - rugby 7s (and now 15s). If they can get to the semifinal I would probably make them number 1. They are tiny.</p><p></p><p>Scotland, no way since the 80s. Routinely tapping players from other countries in sports and not winning anything. Recent exceptions are Andy Murray, and, if we include them as sports, snooker, strongmen and darts. The fact schoolkids cannot train in daylight for 3 months of the year (due to ludicrous clock change) doesn't help, but others do more with less.</p><p></p><p>Iceland - football and strongman</p><p></p><p>Croatia - how can they be so good for so long at football? Historically top level at handball and water polo too (yes, I did google that). If they had won a football tournament they would be my numero uno.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Too big for your standard but Spain are so good at nurturing talent. Even though they are a middle sized country I would still call them overachievers. Football (both sexes), total crazy domination of motorbikes (despite not having a manufacturer?), good at F1, top table of rugby u20s, sensational at tennis, two times defending world champs at handball. Cycling too historically, but that is less inspiring.</p><p></p><p>If any Tier2 is going to find a magical way of replicating Argentina's rugby miracle it would be Spain, hence my interest in this topic. Really mystified how Spain can get on top on a sport and then consistently stay there. Its been decades since they have been a dictatorship (which typically pump funds into sport). Their rugby u20s are probably a flash in the pan, they have minimal funding, but who knows? Could it be the start of something?</p><p></p><p>Underachiever I would mention is India. But watch out as they are now entrenched nationalists and are funding things like sprinting to a very high standard and had a decent lass at tennis. Basically, they are now shifting the notion that south Asians can't be as naturally athletic as anyone else and by removing that mental block and seemingly combining it with funds and about 1/6th of the world's population I expect them to say hello to global sport in the next 20 years. Plus, masters of kabbadi!</p><p></p><p>I would say the biggest underachiever is Japan. They pump loads of money into various sports and don't seem to get anywhere. A bit rubbish at motorsport despite having manufacturers etc. At the olympics they seem to do well only at really niche stuff like archery. For rugby they are my reverse of Spain. Things look promising externally for them but I don't have confidence that they'll ever consistently trouble the top 8 of the sport.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bruce_ma gooshvili, post: 1152696, member: 74121"] Agree on NZ. Particularly when their climate isn't sensational for outdoor sport and they are really isolated geographically. Probably number 1 for me because they win stuff in these sports (even if they are fairly niche sports). Fiji - rugby 7s (and now 15s). If they can get to the semifinal I would probably make them number 1. They are tiny. Scotland, no way since the 80s. Routinely tapping players from other countries in sports and not winning anything. Recent exceptions are Andy Murray, and, if we include them as sports, snooker, strongmen and darts. The fact schoolkids cannot train in daylight for 3 months of the year (due to ludicrous clock change) doesn't help, but others do more with less. Iceland - football and strongman Croatia - how can they be so good for so long at football? Historically top level at handball and water polo too (yes, I did google that). If they had won a football tournament they would be my numero uno. Too big for your standard but Spain are so good at nurturing talent. Even though they are a middle sized country I would still call them overachievers. Football (both sexes), total crazy domination of motorbikes (despite not having a manufacturer?), good at F1, top table of rugby u20s, sensational at tennis, two times defending world champs at handball. Cycling too historically, but that is less inspiring. If any Tier2 is going to find a magical way of replicating Argentina's rugby miracle it would be Spain, hence my interest in this topic. Really mystified how Spain can get on top on a sport and then consistently stay there. Its been decades since they have been a dictatorship (which typically pump funds into sport). Their rugby u20s are probably a flash in the pan, they have minimal funding, but who knows? Could it be the start of something? Underachiever I would mention is India. But watch out as they are now entrenched nationalists and are funding things like sprinting to a very high standard and had a decent lass at tennis. Basically, they are now shifting the notion that south Asians can't be as naturally athletic as anyone else and by removing that mental block and seemingly combining it with funds and about 1/6th of the world's population I expect them to say hello to global sport in the next 20 years. Plus, masters of kabbadi! I would say the biggest underachiever is Japan. They pump loads of money into various sports and don't seem to get anywhere. A bit rubbish at motorsport despite having manufacturers etc. At the olympics they seem to do well only at really niche stuff like archery. For rugby they are my reverse of Spain. Things look promising externally for them but I don't have confidence that they'll ever consistently trouble the top 8 of the sport. [/QUOTE]
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